TEXT: Written by SEAN PUNCH
  Illustrated by GUY BURWELL, 
  ALEX FERNANDEZ,  
  KRIS JUSTICE, ALEX McVEY, 
  and DAN SMITH
  Reviewer: Christopher R. Rice
  GURPS, Pyramid, Warehouse 23, the all-seeing pyramid, Day One, and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are trademarks or registered 
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  STEVE JACKSON GAMES
  Stock #37-1683 
  Version 1.0 – April 2015
  ®
  GURPS System Design z STEVE JACKSON
  GURPS Line Editor z SEAN PUNCH
  Assistant GURPS Line Editor z JASON “PK” LEVINE
  GURPS Project Manager z STEVEN MARSH
  Production Artist and Indexer z NIKOLA VRTIS
  GURPS FAQ Maintainer z  
  VICKY “MOLOKH” KOLENKO
  Chief Executive Officer z PHILIP REED
  Chief Operating Officer z SAMUEL MITSCHKE
  Managing Editor z MIRANDA HORNER
  Marketing Director z BRIAN ENGARD
  Director of Sales z ROSS JEPSON
  Page Design z PHIL REED and JUSTIN DE WITT
   Art Direction and Prepress Checker z NIKKI VRTIS
  Day One
  TM
  
  IntroductIon  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 4
  Recommended Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  Publication History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  About GURPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  1 . EmpIrE of thE nEcromancEr-KIng .  .  .  . 5
  Day One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
  At a Glance: Empire of the Necromancer-King . . . . . . . . . 5
  A World in decAy  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 5
  The Radiant Realm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
  Holdouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
  The Evil Empire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
  The FAllen  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 7
  The Gory Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
  By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
  cAmpAigning AgAinsT The necromAncer-King  .  .  .  .  .  . 8
  Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
  Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
  Rules to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
  Mood and Pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
  Tough Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
  Unlimited Power! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
  chAmpions .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 9
  Character Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
  Gear Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
  Replacing Champions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
  Not Champion Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
  Acting the Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
  2 . fIElds of fEar .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 11
  Day One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
  At a Glance: Fields of Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
  ToWn And counTry  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 11
  Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  Villains Two. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  The Plantation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
  The Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
  The WorKForce  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 13
  The Gory Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
  By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
  hArroWing The Fields  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 14
  Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  Rules to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  Mood and Pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  Startling Realizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  Tough Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  deTecTives And dileTTAnTes  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 15
  Character Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  Gear Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  Ordinary Folks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  Reinforcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  Knowing Your Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  3 . savagE strEEts  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 17
  Day One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  At a Glance: Savage Streets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  ciTy on Fire  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 17
  The War Zone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  Bad Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  Bad Neighborhoods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
  red eyes, grinding TeeTh  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 19
  The Gory Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  mAKing The sTreeTs sAFe AgAin .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 19
  Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  Rules to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  Mood and Pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  Tough Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  iT’s A Tough Job  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 21
  Character Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  New Kids on the Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  Harsh Realism?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  Gear Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
  Cleaning Up the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
  4 . ZEta forcE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 23
  Day One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  At a Glance: Zeta Force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  The World, unredAcTed  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 23
  The Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  The Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
  The Enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
  All The World’s Zombies  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 25
  The Gory Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
  By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
  mission proFile  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 26
  Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  Rules to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  Mood and Pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  Tough Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
   
  Contents 
  2
  Contents
  The T-Virus is protean, 
  changing from liquid to airborne 
  to blood transmission, depending 
  on its environment.
  – Red Queen,  
  in Resident Evil
  
   
  Contents 
  3
  TroubleshooTers  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 27
  Character Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
  Too Bad About Agent Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
  Your God Won’t Save You. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
  Being a Team Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
  Gear Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
  5 . ultImatE ZombIE-fIghtErs .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 30
  At a Glance: Ultimate Zombie-Fighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
  Day One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
  TeoTWAWKi  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 30
  Respite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
  Rumor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  Zeds  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 32
  The Gory Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
  By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
  FighT Zombies, TAKe bAcK The World  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 34
  Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
  Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
  Rules to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
  Mood and Pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
  Tough Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
  Zombie-FighTers .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 35
  Character Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
  Let’s Join Forces!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
  Gritty Unrealism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
  Gear Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
  Being Larger Than Life – And Death!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
  6 . alpha and omEga  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 37
  At a Glance: Alpha and Omega. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  Day One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  A World in need oF sAving  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 38
  Besieged Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Danger Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Disaster Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  New Settlements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  The WAlKing deAd  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 39
  The Gory Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  sAving The World  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 40
  Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  Rules to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  Mood and Pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  Tough Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
  omegA TeAm  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 41
  Character Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
  Are There More Like Me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
  Gear Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  Being a Hero. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  Unknown to Science. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  7 . tImE of thE ZombIEs  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 43
  At a Glance: Time of the Zombies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  TreAsures And Terrors  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 43
  Ruins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  Wilderness Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  Crazy Towns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  Vaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  Forbidden Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  The inFecTed  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 44
  The Gory Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
  By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
  Everything Else . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
  TAles seT in The ruins .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 46
  Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
  Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
  Rules to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
  Mood and Pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
  Tough Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
  seeKers  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 47
  Character Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
  Replacing Losses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
  Different World, Same Reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
  Gear Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
  Doing Your Bit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
  8 . dEpravIty WEll .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 49
  At a Glance: Depravity Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
  Day One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
  hoT, heAvy, hAZy hell  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 50
  Flora, Fauna, and All the Rest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
  Settlements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
  meeT The locAls  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 51
  The Gory Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
  What Happened Here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
  By the Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
  Hellions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
  exploring hell  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 52
  Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
  Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
  Rules to Avoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
  Mood and Pacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
  Tough Calls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
  our sTAlWArT creW  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 54
  And Then There Were None. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
  Not Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
  Character Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
  Gear Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
  The Best of the Best. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
  IndEx .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 56
  Timmy: Does, uh, your zombie 
  wanna play? What do you call 
  him anyways?
  Cindy: I don’t know.  
  Right now I’m just calling  
  him “Daddy.”
  – Fido
  
   
  IntroduCtIon 
  4
  GURPS Zombies offers a near-infinite variety of zombies, 
  adaptable to any genre and play style. If it has a flaw, it’s that 
  there’s so much to absorb. The GM must pick a genre, come up 
  with a setting, work out how and why zombies are involved, 
  choose or design the zombies, consider their impact on the 
  game world, and ponder who the PCs are and how they fit in. 
  Phew! All that work can leave the GM thinking, “My brain was 
  eaten by Zombies.”
  Fortunately, GURPS Zombies: Day One is here to help. 
  Like a hero appearing in the nick of time with a machete in one 
  hand and a shotgun in the other, it cuts the ravening horde of 
  choices down to a manageable size and opens multiple escape 
  routes. In more prosaic terms, it sketches out eight campaigns 
  in more depth than “Zombies run rampant. Survivors hold out 
  at mall. Everybody dies. News at 11.” And for each, it explains 
  what chunks of Zombies are and aren’t vital, counsels the GM 
  on themes, pacing, and pitfalls, and advises the players on cre-
  ating and playing suitable characters.
  Unlike the zombie plague, however, Day One doesn’t 
  take away free will – it infects the mind only with adventure. 
  It points the players in the right direction without solving 
  all the heroes’ problems for them. It helps the GM get past 
  the tedious decisions and on to the interesting ones. In fact, 
  because the GM is welcome to use a single framework as 
  written, mix and match aspects of several, or mine some or 
  all for ideas, Day One adds a fun new choice: What do you 
  want to try first?
  reCommended Books
  The campaign frames in GURPS Zombies: Day One are 
  sufficiently stats-light that they don’t absolutely require any 
  particular GURPS supplement. In fact, as a source of ideas, 
  Day One is useful with any RPG that has rules for zombies. 
  Still, it supports and makes frequent reference to GURPS 
  Zombies, so that book is highly recommended. Add the 
  GURPS Basic Set and you’ll have everything you need to get 
  started – though other GURPS releases may prove helpful, 
  and the At a Glance box in each chapter includes a short list 
  of these.
  PuBlICatIon HIstory
  This is the first edition of GURPS Zombies: Day One. 
  To reduce page-flipping, some bits and pieces of GURPS 
  Zombies appear in forms modified to suit particular cam-
  paign frames. The overwhelming majority of the content is 
  completely new, however.
  aBout tHe autHor
  Sean “Dr. Kromm” Punch set out to become a particle 
  physicist in 1985, ended up the GURPS Line Editor in 1995, 
  and has engineered rules for almost every GURPS prod-
  uct since. He developed, edited, or wrote dozens of GURPS 
  Third Edition projects between 1995 and 2002. In 2004, he 
  produced the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition with David 
  Pulver. Since then, he has created GURPS Powers (with Phil 
  Masters), GURPS Martial Arts (with Peter Dell’Orto), GURPS 
  Zombies, and the GURPS Action, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, 
  and GURPS Power-Ups series . . . among many other things. 
  Sean has been a gamer since 1979. His big non-gaming inter-
  ests are mixology and Argentine tango. He lives in Montréal, 
  Québec with his wife, Bonnie, and their cat, Zephyra.
  IntroduCtIon
  aBout GURPS
  Steve Jackson Games is committed to full sup-
  port of GURPS players. Our address is SJ Games, P.O. 
  Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760. Please include a self-ad-
  dressed, stamped envelope (SASE) any time you write us!  
  We can also be reached by e-mail: info@sjgames.com. 
  Resources include:
  New supplements and adventures. GURPS continues to 
  grow – see what’s new at gurps.sjgames.com.
  Warehouse 23. Our online store offers GURPS adven-
  tures, play aids, and support in PDF form . . . digital cop-
  ies of our books, plus exclusive material available only on 
  Warehouse 23! Just head over to warehouse23.com.
  Pyramid (pyramid.sjgames.com). Our monthly PDF 
  magazine includes new rules and articles for GURPS, sys-
  temless locations, adventures, and much more. Look for 
  each themed issue from Warehouse 23!
  Internet. Visit us on the World Wide Web at  
  sjgames.com for errata, updates, Q&A, and much 
  more. To discuss GURPS with our staff and your fellow 
  gamers, visit our forums at forums.sjgames.com. The 
  web page for GURPS Zombies: Day One can be found 
  at gurps.sjgames.com/dayone.
  Bibliographies. Many of our books have extensive bib-
  liographies, and we’re putting them online – with links to 
  let you buy the resources that interest you! Go to each 
  book’s web page and look for the “Bibliography” link.
  Errata. Everyone makes mistakes, including us – but 
  we do our best to fix our errors. Up-to-date errata pages 
  for all GURPS releases, including this book, are available 
  on our website – see above.
  Rules and statistics in this book are specifically for the 
  GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that 
  begin with B refer to that book, not this one.
  
   
  emPIre of tHe neCromanCer-kIng 
  5
  Nobody knows the Necromancer-King’s true origins. Tales 
  speak in turns of a power-hungry vizier to a forgotten mon-
  arch, the insane master of a far-off wizards’ guild, a lone meg-
  alomaniac who performed forbidden rites, and even a demon 
  sent to punish mortals. What can be verified is that He com-
  mands the Powers of Evil – through black magic, a foul pact, 
  or diabolical birthright – and has conquered most of a conti-
  nent and turned its inhabitants into undead troops. Equally 
  clear are His goals: use the Dark Legions to achieve world 
  domination and then cast down the gods!
  Unless the Powers of Good stop Him, that is. As the sun 
  sets on the land of the living, the last of the great nations 
  – the Radiant Realm – stands between the Necromancer-
  King and His objectives. As long as the Realm survives, 
  the gods have faithful through which to channel their 
  power and the Necromancer-King cannot fulfill His dark 
  destiny. And the Realm has a powerful weapon in its 
  Champions: great heroes blessed by the gods and sworn 
  to avenge the fallen.
  Will the Champions defeat the Necromancer-King, 
  find and destroy the Dark Heart (His fabled place of 
  power), and free the souls of the Dark Legions? Or will 
  they falter and fail, leaving the gods without worshippers 
  and thus power, and damning the fallen for eternity?
  day one
  The campaign starts in media res, with the PCs – Cham-
  pions, naturally! – taking on the Necromancer-King’s 
  forces. Their world’s plight is known to them. Zombies pose a 
  perpetual danger but rarely a surprise.
  If the PCs start at the bottom of the suggested power level 
  (250 points), this may well be their first mission, perhaps even 
  their awakening to power as they defend their village against 
  a raid by the Dark Legions. The closer they are to the high end 
  (400 points), the higher the stakes. The mightiest heroes could 
  even make a grand entrance commanding Realm troops in a 
  large-scale battle against the Legions (see Hordes in GURPS 
  Mass Combat on p. 28 of Zombies).
  a World In deCay
  The lay of the land is up to the GM. The Necromancer-
  King’s Evil Empire might be as modest in size as Europe 
  west of Russia, with the Radiant Realm a hard-to-conquer 
  corner up in the mountains (like Switzerland), on an island 
  (like England), or at the utmost extent of the landmass (like 
  Portugal, if the Dark Legions are sweeping from east to west). 
  In an epic campaign, the Powers of Evil may rule a territory 
  as vast as Eurasia, with the Realm being the size of Western 
  Europe or the Indian subcontinent. To save time, the GM 
  could choose one of those examples, start with a map of the 
  real world, and change place names and geographical details 
  to taste.
  CHaPter one
  emPIre of tHe 
  neCromanCer- 
  kIng
  at a glanCe: emPIre of 
  tHe neCromanCer-kIng
  Genre: Dark Fantasy. 
  Tech Level: 3 (with elements of 0-4).
  Power Level: Born Zombie-Killers (250-400 points).
  Supernatural Powers: A wide range for PCs and the NPC 
  arch-villain.
  Scope: Widespread Outbreak (a continent on the verge of 
  apocalypse).
  Zombies: Many types, slow and fast – all mindless undead 
  servitors, none of them infectious.
  Useful Supplements: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series, 
  GURPS Low-Tech, GURPS Magic, GURPS Mass 
  Combat, and GURPS Powers.
  
   
  emPIre of tHe neCromanCer-kIng 
  6
  tHe radIant realm
  The heroes’ homeland is a quasi-medieval 
  fantasy kingdom of the kind customarily used 
  as a setting for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. That 
  means it’s nominally TL3, save for when it would 
  be cool to have rapier-toting courtiers riding in 
  carriages, knights in full plate surveying the bat-
  tlefield with spyglasses, and so on – then it’s TL4. 
  The GM may include any TL1-4 artifact or social 
  concept, and even let Champions have experi-
  mental gunpowder weapons. GURPS Low-Tech 
  would come in handy here.
  For those wondering about how such a civili-
  zation could thrive in a state of perpetual siege, 
  the answer is that it’s propped up by magic and 
  the Powers of Good (the gods). It enjoys high 
  mana and high sanctity; thus, training alone 
  suffices to cast simple spells. This ensures that 
  crops are unfailingly bounteous, for instance. 
  The fact that people stay fed and borders remain 
  garrisoned keeps the royalty and nobility in 
  power. However, this occupies the Realm’s mag-
  ic-wielding manpower, leaving Champions to do 
  the praying and spellcasting in war.
  The existence of nonhumans is up to the GM. 
  In a smallish Realm, it’s best to stick to humans. 
  In a huge land, there may be nonhuman prov-
  inces or territories. If so, then their dead are 
  among the Dark Legions as well.
  The City of Light
  The capital of the Radiant Realm is a metropolis with a 
  population out of proportion to what TL3-4 could realistically 
  support. Details aren’t that important, as if the war reaches 
  its walls, all is lost. However, the PCs might swing through on 
  their way to some adventure; if so, the GM should offer them 
  the best equipment, training, and magic their world has to 
  offer. There’s no better place to look!
  The Armies of Radiance
  In GURPS Mass Combat terms, the Realm can field all 
  TL1-3 element types, the ne plus ultra being Heavy Cavalry 
  (knights) and Pikemen. They also have Battle Mages, but no 
  other fantastic elements. They’re always outnumbered but 
  well-led, with even second-rate generals boasting Strategy 
  levels of 13+. They have at least Good gear, with knights 
  sporting Fine or Very Fine equip-
  ment. Troop quality is Good or 
  better owing to battle hardening. 
  So far, they’ve managed to repel 
  the Dark Legions by fighting 
  defensively from behind fortifica-
  tions. Offense is left to Champion-
  led war bands.
  tHe evIl 
  emPIre
  The Necromancer-King’s con-
  quered territories are devoid of 
  communities of living subjects. 
  Almost everyone has been turned 
  into a zombie of some kind. 
  Anyone alive is either a visiting 
  Champion or a survivor eking 
  out a subsistence living at TL0-1, 
  hoping to make it to the Radiant 
  Realm. Black magic has blighted 
  the land; plants and animals 
  are twisted and monstrous (the 
  GURPS Creatures of the Night 
  and Dungeon Fantasy series offer 
  plenty of ideas).
  As the gods haven’t yet been 
  defeated, sanctity mostly remains 
  normal. The presence of black magic relies on mana. How-
  ever, there are locales where necromancy taxes both of these 
  supernatural resources, either reducing levels to low or impos-
  ing an “aspect” that gives from +1 to +5 to Necromantic spells 
  and a corresponding -1 to -5 to Healing.
  Zombies are everywhere. Near the Empire’s leading edge, 
  zombies mill around newly assimilated villages, awaiting 
  deployment. Columns of zombies shamble from front to front, 
  battle to battle. Occasionally, parties of zombies march into 
  the Empire bearing body parts and captives . . . to return 
  with new, more-terrifying undead in their ranks.
  The Dark Heart
  The GM should hide the Necromancer-King’s seat of 
  power in some easily defended locale deep in the Empire. 
  The Powers of Good know neither its location nor its 
  nature, as it’s shielded from divination. The Dark Legions’ 
  thralls don’t have this information to give up. Rumors 
  speak of an unearthly tower jutting up from the bottom of 
  an unnatural caldera, defended by a great rim wall; a sin-
  ister, near-vertical peak looming high over an inhospitable 
  mountain range; and a dungeon so deep that heroes could 
  make a career of exploring it. Only the GM knows for sure!
  The important part is that there are just three ways to 
  get to this place:
  1. Push back the Dark Legions, battle by battle.
  2. Raid deep, either shadowing a prisoner-taking party 
  that’s headed into the Empire or infiltrating back along the 
  tracks of zombies shambling out.
  3. Be taken captive!
  Holdouts
  At the GM’s option, lesser powers than the Radiant 
  Realm may be holding out as well. These should be mil-
  itarily inferior, and lack high mana and sanctity. They 
  would make good homelands for exotic or nonhuman 
  Champions. There might even be a few islands of light 
  inside the Evil Empire! It’s most fun if these are discov-
  ered in play.
  
   
  emPIre of tHe neCromanCer-kIng 
  7
  Upon reaching the Dark Heart, Champions might be able 
  to unseat the Necromancer-King by smashing the fabled Soul 
  Stone (a sort of Soul Jar), striking Him down directly with a 
  legendary weapon, or blasting the place to oblivion. That, too, 
  is left to the GM.
  The Dark Legions
  The Dark Legions consist almost entirely of what GURPS 
  Mass Combat terms Light and Medium Infantry. Troop qual-
  ity is often Inferior (zombie villagers), with zombified warriors 
  qualifying as merely Average. Equipment is heavily reused and 
  battle-damaged, and thus Poor to Basic. Leadership is terrible, 
  as the Necromancer-King no longer trusts free-willed subor-
  dinates and mentally commands His armies, often several at 
  once; His effective Strategy skill hovers at around 12, though it 
  might be 20+ in person (signs of such brilliance shine through 
  whenever He realizes a particular conflict is essential).
  What lets the Legions prevail is the fact that they’re numer-
  ous (often outnumbering the Realm’s armies by a factor of 10 
  or more), suffer no ill effects from forced marches, and can 
  fully replace combat losses overnight – and even grow in num-
  ber – unless the corpses of both sides are ritually consecrated 
  one at a time, or burned to ash.
  tHe fallen
  Zombies in this background are RPG monsters that bear 
  minimal similarity to beings of real-world folklore. On a 
  meta-game level, they symbolize little individually, although 
  the setting is certainly a study in totalitarianism. Mainly, the 
  undead are opponents for heroes to slaughter – but because 
  destroying one and consecrating or burning the corpse saves 
  the victim’s soul, the label “unfortunate zombie” is as valid as 
  “fodder zombie” (see Zombies, p. 11).
  tHe gory detaIls
  Each zombie used to be someone, and the peculiar nec-
  romancy of the Necromancer-King traps the individual’s 
  soul and taps it for energy to make the body get up and walk 
  around – over and over again.
  The Meat
  Zombies here are always undead. Some are fresh and 
  almost resemble living people. Others are decaying. Many 
  have been reanimated repeatedly after succumbing to combat 
  injuries, and thus are missing important body parts.
  The Motivation
  The power behind the Dark Legions is supernatural but not 
  a magic spell. It emanates from the Necromancer-King’s pact 
  with evil forces on a par with the gods, and draws on a variety 
  of sinister sanctity, not mana. The Evil Empire is unhallowed 
  ground that raises corpses at sunset, unless they’re cremated 
  or sanctified, and these undead are undeniably cursed. The 
  Necromancer-King doesn’t animate zombies, but has a mental 
  link that lets Him command them remotely and peer through 
  their eyes, and uses black magic to alter them (which does 
  require mana, as well as His personal intervention).
  Turning Points
  Zombification starts with a corpse and isn’t infectious, so 
  heroes needn’t worry about turning. However, any cadaver 
  in the Evil Empire will rise as a zombie at sunset unless cre-
  mated – dismemberment won’t do! Prayer also works, but 
  requires a Religious Ritual roll by someone with Blessed, 
  Power Investiture, or True Faith. A Final Rest spell, while 
  costly and used only when other options aren’t practical or 
  available, is also effective.
  By tHe numBers
  To create suitable zombies, start with Necromantic 
  Reanimates (Zombies, pp. 99-101) and apply these changes:
  Vital Signs: In addition to the Rotting, Mummified, and 
  Skeletal Corpse meta-traits, Intact Corpse is an option.
  Sustenance: Swap out Dependency on mana for Dependency 
  on a “Very Common” variety of sanctity. Heroes can’t exploit 
  this to interfere with existing zombies but can use prayer to 
  prevent reanimation (a Religious Ritual roll by a holy person).
  Fatal Flaws: The zombies aren’t preserved by magic, so 
  they slide down the scale from Intact Corpse, through Rotting 
  Corpse, to Skeletal Corpse, unless mummified. Many have 
  missing limbs.
  Mutatis Mutandis: All zombies have the Can Be Turned By 
  True Faith quirk and the Desecrator perk: holy folk can repel 
  them, but any ground they occupy unchallenged at sunset joins 
  the Evil Empire and becomes unhallowed. Some variants have 
  a level or two of boosted ST, DX, Basic Speed, or Basic Move – 
  or of Damage Resistance or Striking ST. A few exhibit capabil-
  ities like those of Fantasy Monsters (Zombies, pp. 95-96), from 
  the Pestilent Presence or Toxic perk to Paralyzing Scratch. Any 
  changes exist in all zombies in a given encounter.
  Apply the resulting template(s) to a full spectrum of peo-
  ple, from children, through formerly hale adults (warriors and 
  non-warriors alike), to the elderly.
  A forest to hell 
  comes alive with 
  death.
  – Tagline for 
  Versus
  
   
  emPIre of tHe neCromanCer-kIng 
  8
  CamPaIgnIng agaInst  
  tHe neCromanCer-kIng
  A campaign in this background sees the heroes repel-
  ling zombie legions and raiding deep into enemy territory 
  to destroy dark power sources: cairns, henges, and so on. 
  Each victory pushes back the border of the Evil Empire and 
  brings them closer to conflict with their nemesis, who hurls 
  ever-more-powerful – yet always mindless – undead at them.  
  If the Champions survive, they may find the Dark Heart, defeat 
  the Necromancer-King, lift the curse on the land, and free the 
  souls of the remaining undead.
  setuP
  The campaign starts out much like any sort of fantasy game 
  with a major “Good vs. Evil” element, but with a few twists.
  Starting Conditions
  Champions might start as anything from 250-point 
  GURPS Dungeon Fantasy-style heroes to 400-point 
  hunters built on GURPS Monster Hunters templates 
  adapted to a low-tech setting, as the GM prefers. Con-
  tagion isn’t an issue, so there are no tough calls to make 
  regarding immunity. Since everyone is aware of what 
  they’re facing, there are no major decisions to make 
  regarding preparedness, either.
  Homework
  The GM’s major preparations will consist of mapping 
  the setting (GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness 
  Adventures is useful for this – and so is the trick of alter-
  ing a map of the real world), dreaming up variant zombies, 
  and maintaining force rosters for GURPS Mass Combat pur-
  poses. It can’t hurt to keep plenty of figures around to use in 
  smaller-scale fights, either.
  Most important is dotting the map with places of evil 
  power to strike at, and deciding where, when, and how the 
  Necromancer-King’s forces will attack. The former might be 
  random, but the latter shouldn’t be – zombies are mindless, 
  but the Necromancer-King isn’t, and the GM ought to play 
  His part intelligently. If the Champions are raiding, put zom-
  bies in their most likely path; if they’re famously powerful, 
  toughen the opposition; and so on. The overall feel should 
  be more “military campaign” than “hack ‘n’ slash adventure 
  with wandering monsters.” Still, the Necromancer-King isn’t 
  an oracle, and knows only what His zombies see and what’s 
  going on in His places of power. Don’t cheat!
  rules
  Few of the special rules in Chapter 4 of Zombies matter, as 
  the zombies attack with weapons instead of teeth, can’t infect 
  others, and behave like low-quality troops rather than pred-
  atory hordes. Still, Horde Action (Zombies, pp. 114-117) can 
  save time, and Turning the Tide (Zombies, pp. 117-118) will be 
  important if any of the PCs are holy folk.
  On the other side of the battlefield, Champions on deep 
  raids will need Staying Out of Reach (Zombies, pp. 120-
  122). They ought to pay attention to Survival Gear (Zombies, 
  pp. 47-48), too – they can’t resupply in the Evil Empire!
  mood and PaCIng
  The most important thing for the GM to bear in mind is that 
  the thrill of this campaign comes from being outnumbered, 
  surrounded, . . . and the world’s most capable zombie-killers! 
  From the Necromancer-King’s perspective, the war is won but 
  for a few holdouts standing between Him and taking down 
  deities. The Champions beg to differ, and are the last bulwark 
  between the gods and oblivion. Thus, everything they do must 
  be epic. If the heroes perish, it will be because they went down 
  fighting under the weight of thousands, not due to Bleeding 
  (p. B420), Infection (p. B444), or the like.
  Rules to Avoid
  All rules tied to contagion and biohazards are irrelevant. 
  Ditto those for curing zombies (you can turn them into 
  corpses but you can’t bring back dead friends) and inventing 
  new zombie types (only the Necromancer-King does that, 
  and His methods are not scientific).
  “The Dead are following,” said Legolas. “I see shapes of Men and of 
  horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud, and spears like winter-thickets 
  on a misty night. The Dead are following.”
  – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
  
   
  emPIre of tHe neCromanCer-kIng 
  9
  The GM needs to make Big Plans for every adventure. 
  One may see the Champions spearheading a GURPS Mass 
  Combat action to defend or take back a village. Another might 
  involve them raiding a “dungeon” that emanates evil for miles 
  around, destroying the unholy artifacts within, and pushing 
  back the borders of the Evil Empire. Enough of this and they’ll 
  be poised to strike at the Dark Heart, relying on great gear, 
  potent spells, and pure grit to operate without supply, playing 
  the cat-and-mouse game of commandos vs. armies. At the end, 
  the PCs should have a shot at winning – and if they lose, let it 
  be heroically!
  Just as important, never lose sight of the fact that each 
  zombie was formerly a person, their soul now trapped until 
  dispatched permanently. Reward the players – with strategic 
  gains and perhaps bonus character points – if the PCs give 
  the fallen honorable deaths, take time to pray for each one 
  instead of just burning them en masse, and try to identify the 
  dead. If they’re respectful despite being hardened, the gods 
  will notice and show approval by granting them the occa-
  sional power-up.
  tougH Calls
  This setting is spared the squabbling of true survival horror 
  and the difficult decisions about bitten survivors that arise in 
  classic zombie-movie scenarios. Still, the GM has a few judg-
  ment calls to make:
  Can I play a zombie? No. Zombies are always mindless 
  NPCs.
  Can I raise zombies? No. Only the Necromancer-King does 
  that. Champions lack access to spells like Zombie, Control 
  Zombie, Zombie Summoning, and Mass Zombie, and to simi-
  lar abilities from powers or other magic systems.
  Can I replace my Champion? Yes, it’s fine 
  to bring in a new Champion. If the heroes are  
  in the Evil Empire, this might involve waiting 
  until they return to civilization. If that seems 
  unlikely, the GM may arrange for a lone sur-
  vivor from a defeated raiding party to find the 
  group, possibly ruling that such a replacement 
  PC has fewer points or little gear. Champions 
  can’t be brought back from the dead, though 
  – the gods disapprove of that, for obvious rea-
  sons, and nothing like Resurrection spells or 
  elixirs exists.
  CHamPIons
  Champions are the cream of the crop – they command 
  varying degrees of power, but no one would seriously claim 
  to be more capable of battling the Powers of Evil. Whether 
  or not they like to admit it, each Champion is favored by the 
  gods (read: “is worth lots of character points”). In some cases, 
  this is overt: the hero has holy powers. In others, it’s a subtle 
  stacking of the deck.
  CHaraCter CreatIon
  Champions must be compatible with a TL3-4 world, and 
  boast combat abilities and a capacity to operate without 
  resupply. To ensure this, the GM may wish to use character 
  templates. The ones in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy fit with 
  minimal changes – at most, the GM might add Rank, Social 
  Regard, Status, etc. to give the campaign a social facet.
  Power Level
  The GM will set this at between 250 and 400 points.
  Character Types
  Three archetypes are essential:
  Holy folk possess some or all of Blessed, Power Investi-
  ture (in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, Holiness will also suf-
  fice), and True Faith (for repelling zombies). They’ll wield 
  other holy abilities, too, whatever form they take – most 
  often spells or powers. A Higher Purpose pertaining to bat-
  tling the undead is likely as well. The Religious Ritual skill is 
  essential for blessing cursed bodies and ground.
  Warriors have high physical attributes and secondary 
  characteristics, many combat advantages (Combat Reflexes, 
  High Pain Threshold, and so on), excellent fighting skills, and 
  preferably some of the skills GURPS Mass Combat asks of 
  war-leaders: Leadership, Strategy, and Tactics – and possibly 
  Administration and Intelligence Analysis.
  Gear Check
  Champions need the standard hardware that TL3-4 
  fantasy adventurers carry around: weapons, armor, and 
  survival basics like backpacks, canteens, rations, rope, 
  tents, and 10’ poles. As TL4 gunpowder weapons are slow, 
  unreliable, and not great against Unliving zombies, it’s 
  hard for them to get out of hand – the GM might want to 
  add them to the mix. Holy folk will bring along blessed 
  symbols to use with True Faith, while wizards have what-
  ever paraphernalia their magic calls for. Enchanted gear 
  and blessed equivalents exist in this setting, and are better 
  than ordinary equipment (see Zombies, p. 47). As there’s 
  no infectious zombie plague, no special countermeasures 
  are needed.
  Unlimited Power!
  The Necromancer-King is as powerful as He needs to be. The GM 
  who wants to use character points should start at double the Champi-
  ons’ power level. If the Evil Empire is vast and thus calls for a mightier 
  ruler, go higher – the heroes will require more adventures to reach 
  Him, earning the points needed to stand a chance.
  
   
  emPIre of tHe neCromanCer-kIng 
  10
  Wizards use whatever magic 
  system the GM prefers. In most 
  cases this means having lots 
  of IQ, an enabling advantage 
  such as Magery, and the skills 
  used for magic-working (typi-
  cally spells). Their focus is on 
  magic for destroying unholy 
  places of power, blasting hordes 
  of undead, and sustaining the 
  group far from resupply.
  When using GURPS Dungeon 
  Fantasy templates, these essen-
  tials favor clerics, holy warriors, 
  knights, and wizards – and pos-
  sibly scouts for tracking enemy 
  movements 
  on 
  deep 
  raids. 
  Above the 250-point power level, 
  any profession can take lenses to 
  add such abilities.
  The templates on pp. 39-41 
  of Zombies can work, too. Start 
  with hardened survivors opti-
  mized for TL3 and then add 
  a couple of slayer lenses from 
  among BZK, combat monster, 
  holy warrior, and magician to 
  reach 250 points. If using this 
  option and the previous one, 
  make sure all the spells and pow-
  ers agree.
  GURPS Monster Hunters 
  templates are good for high-
  end heroes, but will take some 
  work to adapt to TL3. Crusader, 
  sage, warrior, and witch are by 
  far the most fitting picks. Good 
  motivational lenses are avenger, 
  chosen one, clergy, and soldier.
  When creating characters free-
  form, players ought to review the 
  notes above (and the associated 
  templates) for inspiration.
  Required Traits
  If the GM wants to play up 
  the “favored by the gods” angle, 
  it would be reasonable to require 
  everyone to have one of Daredevil, 
  Destiny, Luck, or Serendipity to 
  represent the stacked deck. If using 
  templates, add the relevant trait(s) 
  to advantage options and consider 
  raising the power level a bit to pay 
  for them.
  Appropriate Traits
  The campaign should allow True 
  Faith and some or all of holy gifts 
  built with GURPS Powers, abili-
  ties from GURPS Powers: Divine 
  Favor, 
  and 
  Power 
  Investiture-
  based “cleric spells.” It also requires 
  a 
  magic 
  system 
  for 
  wizards,  
  whether that means GURPS Magic 
  or GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual 
  Path Magic. And a few perks from 
  Zombies, pp. 31-32 fit well: Rest  
  in Pieces, SOP (On Alert), and  
  Won’t Rise.
  aCtIng tHe Part
  Champions are the chosen sav-
  iors of humanity and should behave 
  as such. This means being not only tough 
  and self-sufficient, but also altruistic and 
  respectful of the gods (though not necessar-
  ily pious). This doesn’t imply that they’re all 
  righteous, self-sacrificing paladins, however! 
  Champions are just as likely to be secular 
  warriors sworn to preserve their homeland 
  or bloodline, hot-headed youngsters out to 
  earn a name by saving the world, or scholars 
  bent on studying the Powers of Evil in order 
  to learn how to defeat them.
  Never forget that Champions live in a 
  world at war. They’re not going to be soft or 
  easily frightened. They definitely won’t be 
  surprised at the sight of zombies.
  Finally, remember that it’s good roleplay-
  ing to lament the fate of the undead and to 
  be offended by the power that raised them. 
  Gleefully slaughtering zombie villagers is 
  inappropriate. Grimly slaughtering them, 
  and then gleefully dismantling the nearest 
  place of evil power . . . now that fits!
  Replacing Champions
  As there’s little chance of one bite ending a career – and because the 
  heroes are so powerful – PC death shouldn’t be commonplace. Still, the 
  Dark Legions are a horde, and the Champions could be overrun and 
  unable to retreat. Those traveling across the Evil Empire are especially 
  in danger of being swallowed up. With dangerous military actions and 
  behind-the-lines raids being the campaign’s main activities, the GM is 
  advised to present an upfront policy on replacement characters: power 
  level, equipment, and so on.
  Not Champion Material
  Character types that don’t suit this setting are player-character necro-
  mancers and zombie-masters (the GM should forbid zombie Allies, Mind 
  Control modified to influence zombies, and magical abilities for raising 
  or controlling undead), and TL5+ heroes (or at least their high-powered 
  weaponry). Selfish PCs, like GURPS Dungeon Fantasy assassins and 
  thieves, need a hefty dose of altruism to justify divine favor. Noncomba-
  tants are likely to perish in short order.
  
   
  fIelds of fear 
  11
  The place: somewhere in the American South. The time: 
  sometime between the 1830s – when the Voodoo Queens of 
  New Orleans were at the height of their powers – and the out-
  break of the American Civil War in 1861. Cash crops such as 
  cotton, sugarcane, and tobacco build the fortunes of the priv-
  ileged few. The engine of their prosperity is the plantation, 
  whose opulent “big house” stands as a symbol of affluence . . . 
  and in stark contrast to the shanties of the slaves who work 
  the land.
  As cheap as slave labor is, however, free is even better. 
  Somewhere on a particularly successful patch of land, in a 
  particularly splendid plantation house, a particularly greedy 
  and twisted man heard tales of Voodoo and reasoned, “If 
  there’s any truth to these stories about zombies, I could 
  really clean up, what with lower food costs, fewer over-
  seers, and round-the-clock productivity.” One trip to New 
  Orleans later and this “gentleman” had located a sorceress 
  of renowned skill – a pretty one with passing looks, natu-
  rally – and offered her a way into wealthy white society if 
  she could do what her reputation claimed she could. She 
  could, he did, and the plantation grew more profitable.
  But greed and black magic are a corrupting cocktail. 
  Team up a planter who doesn’t deem slavery exploitative 
  enough with a bokor willing to sell out her people and 
  beliefs, and . . . well, the selling out and exploitation won’t 
  end. Drifters are disappearing. More and more townsfolk 
  seem to “wander off.” And the plantation? Doing better 
  than ever.
  day one
  The campaign starts with the PCs – residents of a good-
  sized town – being asked to investigate a nearby planta-
  tion. At least one of them needs a reason to say “yes.”  
  The most basic incentive is a missing person, perhaps a mem-
  ber of their family or that of someone who hires them. A more 
  complex option is being retained as spies by a rival plantation, 
  either to discover trade secrets or to dig up “dirt” that could 
  shut down the competition (given the time and place, proof of 
  miscegenation would suffice). If the local religious commu-
  nity fears black magic, they might foot the investigators’ bill.
  Whatever the rumors, those in the know won’t share them 
  at first – nobody wants to look crazy! Nobody wants a rich 
  plantation owner as an enemy, either. The campaign should 
  start out like a TL5 private-detective game, boasting Southern 
  charm tempered with weighty social issues. The cunning GM 
  will keep GURPS Zombies out of sight.
  toWn and Country
  The GM chooses the date and location. A familiar back-
  drop – one for which the GM has reference materials, or 
  that’s the setting of a favorite novel or movie – is best. For 
  instance, 1830s Louisiana, 1840s Virginia, and 1850s Missis-
  sippi would all work, but the specifics differ. 
  What’s crucial is plantations, slaves, and a volatile 
  mixture of class politics and prejudice. Plantation own-
  ers are often filthy rich, but they’re not most white peo-
  ple; most white people are poor, often sharecroppers or 
  laborers. Still, they are white, and would probably favor 
  the cause of a rich landowner who shares nothing but 
  their skin color over that of a slave who shares everything  
  but their skin color.
  As offensive as that is the modern reader, remember that 
  it was supported by the laws of the land. The South at this 
  time wasn’t a lawless outback but a prosperous agricultural 
  power with a genteel ruling class. The heroes can’t walk 
  around shooting people, least of all respected landowners. If 
  they want to prove something, they must do so in a court of 
  law. And if they find zombies, they can’t traipse in and destroy 
  them – because these ones are living people, and killing them 
  would be a property crime (and grounds for a fine) if they’re 
  slaves, murder otherwise.
  CHaPter tWo
  fIelds of fear
  at a glanCe:  
  fIelds of fear
  Genre: Historical Horror.
  Tech Level: 5.
  Power Level: Heroic (100-150 points).
  Supernatural Powers: Subtle magic for the NPC villain.
  Scope: Local Incident (a plantation and its surrounds).
  Zombies: One type of slow, mind-controlled, living slave, 
  not infectious.
  Useful Supplements: GURPS High-Tech, GURPS High-
  Tech: Adventure Guns, GURPS Horror, GURPS Social 
  Engineering, and GURPS Thaumatology, and possibly 
  GURPS Monster Hunters 2 or GURPS Mysteries for 
  detailed investigation rules.
  
   
  fIelds of fear 
  12
  toWn
  The campaign’s hub is a town large enough to be home to 
  at least one PC of sufficient means to play at being a sleuth or 
  a spy instead of earning an honest living, plus several others 
  who are that individual’s hired help or equally affluent peers. 
  The place should be sufficiently populous that it takes a 
  while for somebody to be missed. It needs crime, a rumor 
  mill, and factions of tough, hard-drinking laborers backed 
  by nearby plantations. There should be every reason to sus-
  pect plain old foul play when a body turns up – or doesn’t 
  turn up. And it needs to offer enough work to attract drifters 
  who can go missing.
  The specifics are flexible. The GM who wants an “occult 
  investigators” feel can give the town a bookstore, a “curios-
  ity shoppe,” a church with a well-traveled preacher who has 
  seen some strange things, superstitious parishioners, and 
  so on. If there will be old-timey gunplay, there should be 
  places to obtain guns and ammo. The community might 
  be prosperous, with shops selling fashionable clothing, 
  people sipping absinthe, and clean-swept streets; then 
  again, it may be gritty, with more than its share of drunks 
  and thugs. Or both.
  tHe PlantatIon
  The PCs’ ultimate target needs to be far enough outside 
  town that it’s inconvenient to shuttle back and forth. Even 
  20 miles ought to do when the only options are horses and 
  shoe-leather. The route should have isolated twists and 
  turns – places where superstitious folk can glimpse super-
  natural bogeys lurking and where human monsters can 
  lie in wait. If the chosen backdrop allows, there might be 
  cypress swamps or hills or other obstacles, too. The point is, 
  if something happens on the road, there won’t be witnesses.
  On the other hand, plantations need to move crops off 
  the land to be profitable, so it’s important not to play up the 
  isolation too much. There will be a road, if a creepy one, 
  and perhaps a river landing. What hides the truth from 
  casual travelers is the place’s sheer size: traversing the dis-
  tance between the road and the big house takes more than 
  a few minutes, and those workers in the distance are prob-
  ably just ordinary slaves – it’s hard to tell from this far off.
  The Big House
  The plantation house itself is a sprawling marvel of 
  French Colonial, Gothic Revival, or perhaps Greek Revival 
  architecture. Welcome visitors should be impressed by its 
  sheer splendor, while sneaky ones will need hours to search 
  all its nooks and crannies. There are undoubtedly secret 
  rooms, closets with mysterious little doors in the back, and 
  lots of locks. But there’s nothing obviously incriminating to 
  be found here.
  The Outbuildings
  A plantation also needs barns and stables, and various 
  structures for processing crops, whether that means drying 
  tobacco or ginning cotton. There are buildings for storing 
  equipment and bales of valuable commodities. If there’s 
  a river, there’s a boathouse. All this is perfectly normal. 
  There are two telltale oddities, however:
  Overseer’s House: With its shuttered windows and 
  locked doors, even a glance at the outside should raise 
  suspicions. The inside is where the Voodoo Queen does 
  her work. If the magic she uses supports such things, 
  there are hexes waiting to be triggered. There are certainly 
  Fright Check-worthy props sitting around. However,  
  there are no monsters to fight or mundane traps to avoid. 
  vIllaIns tWo
  This campaign’s principal villains are the man who 
  owns the evil plantation (Himself) and his sorceress (the 
  Voodoo Queen). Names are left to the GM – reading these 
  notes won’t reveal which wealthy household is zombifying 
  people! Character sheets are likewise up to the GM, but 
  these descriptions should help with that.
  Himself
  The man behind the whole sick operation is, superfi-
  cially, the epitome of the Southern gentleman. He dresses 
  nicely, pays lip service to honor, and never fails to fulfill 
  a financial obligation. He’s also a smooth-talking busi-
  nessman with an unnerving talent for finessing contracts 
  and greasing the right palms to stay on the friendly side of 
  anyone who matters. At heart, he’s greedy, merciless, and 
  utterly fickle.
  Once the truth surfaces, the players may want to con-
  front him. This should be difficult for their characters, if 
  they respect law and custom. Word against word, his will 
  prevail unless they build an airtight case. Still, if the heroes 
  throw caution to the winds, he’s also a physical threat: 
  fit, capable with sword and pistol, and an accomplished 
  horseman. If the campaign has a suitable weirdness level, 
  he may well have sold his soul for even more gifts.
  Voodoo Queen
  An accident of birth means the woman who creates and 
  controls the zombies doesn’t look like a person of color. 
  She capitalizes on the difference between her heritage and 
  her appearance, her attitude being, “Lucky me – too bad 
  for you.” She is poisonously selfish, and happy to enslave 
  any enemy of any color, unless they can do something for 
  her. Her rich lover has much to offer: comfort, privacy, 
  victims . . .
  Despite passing looks and considerable beauty, the 
  Voodoo Queen doesn’t visit town. She has no interest in the 
  pursuits considered proper for a woman of her adopted 
  station. Stories of fragile health do the trick, although 
  she’s happy enough to put in an appearance when guests 
  come around.
  The Voodoo Queen is skilled at some form of slow, cer-
  emonial magic. Path magic from GURPS Thaumatology 
  – or its variant in GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path 
  Magic – would fit well. She can curse people, not to 
  mention poison them and add them to her workforce. 
  Investigators who finagle a polite visit are one imperti-
  nent question away from a Datura julep.
  
   
  fIelds of fear 
  13
  Only an occultist is likely to realize what goes on here – and 
  that won’t be enough to prove anything to a judge (though it 
  may convince a mob).
  Slave Cabins: Anybody with any investigative skills at all 
  will realize that nobody actually lives in these rundown struc-
  tures. There are signs of people being here, but not of cooking 
  or sleeping or family life . . . or any other kind of life.
  tHe trutH
  What’s actually going on is that Himself, the Voodoo 
  Queen, and a tiny number of servants are the only people 
  on the grounds who aren’t zombies. All the heavy labor  
  is done by slaves-turned-zombies, drifters-turned-zombies, 
  enemies-turned-zombies, nosy-investigators-turned-zombies 
  . . . Created by the Voodoo Queen, these creatures toil day 
  and night. They’re sent off to far fields or hidden in cabins 
  when polite company stops by, but they don’t need an over-
  seer – or any other supervision that magic can’t provide. 
  When one of them finally drops dead, it’s time to kidnap and 
  zombify a replacement.
  Discovering this truth isn’t the hardest part, although it 
  should be the basis of at least one full adventure. Proving it is. 
  Courts don’t take kindly to someone accusing a genteel woman 
  of witchcraft – especially not when her man owns the judge.
  And anybody who does get too close is going to face not 
  only Voodoo curses but also straightforward violence. A 
  wealthy plantation owner can afford to hire plenty of thugs, 
  pay for their liquor, and put weapons in their hands. And if the 
  goons start to talk, well, they join the workforce.
  tHe WorkforCe
  The zombies in this story are produced by what Haiti knows 
  as Vodou and the South calls Voodoo. They aren’t monsters to 
  fight – in fact, they won’t fight back if threatened – but rather 
  a clear-cut case of the unfortunate zombie (Zombies, p. 11). 
  Horror flows from the fear of becoming a zombie. There’s also 
  a heavy dose of social criticism in the mix, for gamers who 
  desire it: the zombies embody everything that’s wrong with a 
  society that accepts slavery and racial inequality as “just how 
  things are.”
  tHe gory detaIls
  Each zombie is a living person. In theory, it’s even possible 
  to find a cure in the form of an “uncrossing” spell or potion 
  supplied by a friendly magic-worker.
  The Meat
  The zombies in the fields are alive. They look like under-
  fed, overworked people with bloodshot eyes – not like walking 
  dead. However, it isn’t usually obvious who the person is, due 
  to the distorting effects of malnutrition and sun-blistered skin. 
  (Rolls for this are at -5 or worse.)
  The Motivation
  The zombies are products of black magic and mind-altering 
  drugs. The supernatural is at work, but noxious potions are 
  integral to the curse – one cannot be separated from the other.
  Turning Points
  While zombification isn’t infectious, the heroes do have to 
  worry about being made into zombies! This would start with 
  exposure to the zombie drug, placed in food or drink (or force-
  fully administered, if the villains’ thugs capture them). That 
  allows a HT-6 roll to resist . . . and in the case of captives, 
  nothing prevents the enemy from administering a new dose. 
  The result is a trance that’s easily mistaken for death, after 
  which the victim is afflicted with Slave Mentality and can be 
  told not to resist the sorcerous mind-control ritual. The whole 
  process takes about 24 hours – someone who was alive and 
  lucid last night could be drooling and cutting cane tonight.
  The cure involves breaking the spell and then suspending 
  doses of the zombie drug. The first requires finding a friendly 
  Voodoo magician – or perhaps digging through obscure 
  books. The second uses the rules for withdrawal (p. B440); the 
  GM decides whether to treat the dependency as psychological 
  or physiological.
  By tHe numBers
  Vodou Slave (Zombies, p. 102) works fine as written. No 
  special notes are needed to fit this into the campaign frame 
  – the zombie curse of the Voodoo Queen isn’t grounds for 
  Dependency on mana or special zombie features, but simply 
  an explanation for how a drug found in the real world pro-
  duces results that aren’t.
  There’s superstition in Haiti that the natives brought here 
  from Africa. Some can be traced back as far as ancient Egypt. 
  And beyond that yet in the countries that were old when Egypt 
  was young.
  – Dr. Bruner, in White Zombie
  
   
  fIelds of fear 
  14
  HarroWIng tHe fIelds
  The campaign begins with investigation. The heroes 
  might pursue what appears to be a string of missing-persons 
  cases and discover that all clues point to the same planta-
  tion – or perhaps they start out taking notes on an unusu-
  ally productive plantation for someone who already suspects 
  that something is amiss. The more the PCs poke around, the 
  scarier things get . . . and if they survive the mundane thugs  
  and mysterious accidents (curses!), they have to prove their 
  case or assassinate two wealthy citizens. And 
  neither resolution removes the need to cure 
  the victims, which is a quest in itself.
  setuP
  The campaign should seem to be a histori-
  cal (TL5) crime story and grow more twisted 
  and horrific as the truth becomes apparent.
  Starting Conditions
  The heroes are capable 100- to 150-point mystery-solvers. 
  While they need no special material preparations, they’ll prob-
  ably want Bowie knives, revolvers, and so on. The GM may 
  want to peruse GURPS High-Tech and High-Tech: Adventure 
  Guns to figure out what’s available, given the campaign’s 
  starting date.
  A particular issue is that of PC resistance to being zombi-
  fied. Resistant to Poison (or a more specific form of Resistant) 
  should affect the Voodoo Queen’s zombie drug, while she 
  rolls her curse at a penalty if the subject has a defense against 
  magic, such as Magic Resistance. The GM must decide how 
  much hand-tipping is too much. It may be better to assign 
  such traits in secret; see Knowledge of Immunity (Zombies, 
  pp. 151-152).
  Homework
  There’s no need for encounter tables, hordes of zombie 
  miniatures, or large numbers of zombies templates – zom-
  bies aren’t the enemy here. The real work consists of com-
  ing up with character sheets for Himself and the Voodoo 
  Queen, and mapping out the town, the plantation, and the 
  route in between.
  rules
  The many rules Zombies offers for handling zombies in 
  action won’t matter, as the PCs won’t be battling zombies. Just 
  treat the zombies as ordinary people, subject to the limitations 
  of their template. However, if one of the investigators is zom-
  bified and stashed in a pine box, don’t overlook Digging Out 
  (Zombies, p. 123)!
  Fright Checks (Zombies, p. 109) should play a role in the 
  campaign, though. Initially, the heroes won’t be expecting 
  the occult, never mind zombies. Each time they discover a 
  new truth – a Voodoo workspace full of skulls and blood, 
  an unresponsive slave toiling in the dark, an unresponsive 
  acquaintance working the fields, etc. – there’s a chance for 
  a scare.
  The GM may want to use A Better Tomorrow (Zombies, 
  pp. 129-133) for attempts to revive rescued zombies. After the 
  truth is discovered, a doctor with the Physician skill – or a 
  native medicine man with Esoteric Medicine – could try to 
  invent a cure using that knowledge plus Occultism and Phar-
  macy (Herbal). The GM might also let Resuscitation (Zombies, 
  p. 133) work on a zombie killed by the taste of salt, justified by 
  anachronistic science or simply the mad kind.
  mood and PaCIng
  This campaign revolves around the slow revelation of the 
  occult – not tangling with zombies. While zombies are piv-
  otal to the plot, they symbolize its mysteries; discovering 
  their existence doesn’t mean battling monsters right now, 
  but rather dealing with villains later on. The GM shouldn’t 
  lose sight of this, as portraying unfortunate curse victims as 
  B-movie adversaries means irreversibly changing genres from 
  subtle historical horror to splatter.
  The first adventure might be a “prequel” that has little to 
  do with the central storyline, serving to establish the heroes as 
  investigators and troubleshooters; perhaps they have to solve 
  a robbery or a murder, or claim a bounty. After that, they find 
  themselves pointed at the plantation, whether as detectives on 
  a missing-persons case or as spies funded by the competition. 
  This overture might span an adventure or two: nosing around, 
  looking for trouble, and finding it – likely in the form of good 
  ol’ boys with axe handles, hired by Himself. And just when 
  it looks like another crime story, the PCs glimpse things that 
  give them pause . . .
  How the adventurers proceed from there is up to the play-
  ers, but investigating the plantation is inevitable. Socially 
  adept PCs will wheedle a “polite” invitation (and risk poison-
  ing if they aren’t circumspect), stealthy ones may sneak onto 
  the property (and face shotguns and dogs if they’re noticed), 
  and violent ones might stomp right in (ditto). Once they find 
  evidence of Voodoo and experience a few Fright Checks, they’ll 
  have another adventure ahead of them in the form of locating 
  a subject-matter expert – or doing the research themselves, if 
  one of them is an occultist. Their new enemies will strive to 
  thwart this, of course.
  Then it’s time to build a case, which won’t be easy. A drifter 
  or a townie whose heart is still beating and who isn’t protest-
  ing his fate is of little value as a witness or as evidence. How 
  the investigators prove black magic is up to them. Meanwhile, 
  they’ll have enemies in Himself and the Voodoo Queen.  
  The former will equip his goons with guns, making the 
  winding road outside town – and the darker doorways and 
  rougher drinking establishments in town – dangerous.  
  Rules to Avoid
  Just about every rule pertaining to zombie action is irrelevant – 
  these zombies aren’t contagious, don’t attack people, don’t mutate into 
  weird new forms, can’t be turned by holy folk, or any of that. Inventing 
  new zombie types is especially unsuitable.
  
   
  fIelds of fear 
  15
  The latter will work her curses, causing buildings to burn, 
  horses to spook, bridges to collapse into the creek, and all 
  manner of other “accidents.”
  If the heroes persevere, they’ll eventually reveal the truth. 
  This is likely to involve the villainous pair fleeing with plenty 
  of gold and silver, leading the PCs on a hectic chase – pref-
  erably down a creepy road or river through the backcountry. 
  Backward villages are places best left unvisited, but a Voo-
  doo practitioner might be welcome. Pursuit could end in the 
  middle of nowhere or lead to urban action in the streets of 
  New Orleans.
  When it’s all over, there’s still the epilogue of saving the 
  innocent victims. This is its own adventure, involving either 
  a quest for a talented sorcerer or crafting a cure the hard 
  way. It may attract unwanted attention – the PCs could find 
  themselves accused of black magic, or even awaken Things 
  best left asleep.
  Throughout, it’s essential to emphasize the setting’s gritty 
  nature. Firearms are slow, unreliable caplocks that use black 
  powder, belching smoke (GURPS Tactical Shooting, p. 16) 
  and fouling barrels (GURPS High-Tech, p. 86). Medicine is 
  crude, infection (p. B444) is a killer, and any bullet wound 
  can mean a slow death. People are often uneducated and fre-
  quently suffer from Intolerance. The investigators will be mak-
  ing Fright Checks (pp. B360-361) when they discover occult 
  truths – or find little dolls of themselves, stuck through with 
  pins. And since horses are far more reliable and commonplace 
  than steamboats and trains, and as there’s no telegraph net-
  work to carry calls for help before 1860, the heroes will be 
  solving their own problems.
  tougH Calls
  The GM is liable to face several tricky questions:
  How do we deal with race? The setting is home to prejudice 
  and slavery – a hero of color will suffer from a Social Stigma. 
  An armed group that spends all its time solving mysteries 
  instead of tending crops or shops is most likely to consist of 
  privileged white people, and the GM is within his rights to 
  require this. If the players seem incapable of handling such 
  matters tactfully, it’s best to pick another campaign type.
  What happens if I become a zombie? All zombies in this 
  setting are controlled by the Voodoo Queen. A PC who suc-
  cumbs to her powers becomes an NPC. If his asso-
  ciates manage to snatch him from her grasp and 
  cure him, he’ll become a PC again, and be able 
  to recount what happened! In the meantime, the 
  player is entitled to play a replacement character 
  – but the GM should forbid any attempt to intro-
  duce precisely the occultist or scientist the heroes 
  need, as that would be an abuse of player knowl-
  edge to short-circuit the plot.
  Can I know Voodoo? No. Magical powers are 
  for NPCs, and the GM may even leave them vague 
  and hand-waved so the players can’t divine what 
  system is in use.
  deteCtIves and dIlettantes
  The PCs are, for whatever reason, a group equipped to 
  investigate mysteries and/or snoop into others’ business. 
  Details can vary: wealthy amateurs, early detective agency, 
  law-enforcers, or whatever else the players and GM agree to. 
  They need some reason to work together, how-
  ever – if only “the wealthiest of us hired (or 
  owns) the rest.”
  CHaraCter CreatIon
  Everyone must suit the American South 
  of the mid-19th century, which is a pure TL5 
  setting without (PC-controlled!) magic. The 
  majority should be white, English-speaking 
  Southerners, though there’s room for Cajuns, 
  Yankees, Europeans, or even Mexicans, or 
  – with appropriate Social Stigmas – black 
  slaves, Native Americans, or free Caribbean 
  immigrants. Whatever their origin, they won’t 
  last long if they aren’t resourceful, strong-
  willed troubleshooters!
  Power Level
  The GM might pick 100 or 150 points – or, for a real chal-
  lenge, 50-point “ordinary folks.”
  Startling Realizations
  If the investigators uncover evidence of sorcery but the players 
  misinterpret it, the GM may secretly roll against the heroes’ Occult-
  ism (defaults to IQ-5), with success providing a hint. Those from 
  slave or Caribbean backgrounds get +2, as do Native American 
  PCs (who grew up hearing tales such as that of the Raven Mocker’s 
  heart-stealing witchcraft), and success by 5+ might even provide a 
  clue about countermeasures.
  Gear Check
  Investigators have access to TL5 equipment invented as of the 
  campaign’s start date; see GURPS High-Tech and its supplements. 
  They’ll definitely want guns, tools (especially burglar’s tools), and 
  medical gear. For getting around, they’ll need horses and tack – or 
  maybe a coach or a carriage. Law-enforcers will have specialty items 
  such as shackles and leg irons, while period spies may have cipher 
  wheels, invisible ink, and false-bottomed bags. No special counter-
  measures are needed to avoid zombie plague (a paranoid investigator 
  might avoid contact anyway!), and occult paraphernalia isn’t on the 
  menu until the heroes locate a friendly sorcerer willing to sell charms 
  and potions.
  
   
  fIelds of fear 
  16
  Character Types
  The heroes need to be flexible and versatile. A well-bal-
  anced group will include some or all of the following:
  Brains. A book-learned type – preferably a doctor, a dentist, 
  or somebody else with valuable medical skills, but possibly a 
  rich kid who went to school up in Charleston or Lexington and 
  learned something about “strange native beliefs.”
  Detective. At least one of the group ought to have proper 
  mystery-solving skills like Criminology, Detect Lies, Interroga-
  tion, Observation, and Search. After 1850, a proper Pinkerton 
  is just barely possible. More likely, though, this means a mar-
  shal or a sheriff, active or retired.
  Dilettante. The social labyrinth will be much easier to nav-
  igate if someone’s main contributions are Status, Wealth, and 
  skills to match – particularly skills along the lines of Carousing, 
  Dancing, Diplomacy, and Savoir-Faire (High Society).
  Muscle. There will be blood. The group needs the likes of 
  a doughty farm boy who’s good with fists and hickory, a state 
  militiaman trained with long guns and perhaps the cavalry 
  saber, or just a good-for-nothing gambler or gunfighter with a 
  pepperbox and a Bowie knife.
  Sneak. There’s plenty of stalking to do. An urban criminal 
  with Shadowing and Streetwise would come in handy, and so 
  would a swamp rat with Camouflage and Tracking. The whole 
  group could use Stealth, but especially this type.
  These needn’t be exclusive categories, espe-
  cially on 150 points. A dilettante can still be 
  educated, a sneaky backwoods hunter is also 
  useful muscle, and detective will want to be at 
  least somewhat stealthy and comfortable with 
  weapons.
  Required Traits
  Nothing is strictly mandatory. However, the 
  GM might want to ensure that somebody has 
  skill at Occultism, and possibly Pharmacy and 
  Physician (to create a cure). A good way to do 
  this is to require everyone to use templates and 
  to include those skills on a few templates recom-
  mended as essential. Also, as Starting Conditions 
  (p. 14) notes, the GM may opt to assign some 
  level of resistance to Voodoo poisons or curses 
  as a secret trait (Zombies, pp. 151-152).
  Appropriate Traits
  The PCs mainly need the skills noted in 
  Character Types (above). Technological skills 
  should be TL5. The heroes will also find 
  Combat Reflexes, Fearlessness, and the Rule of 
  15 perk (Zombies, p. 31) valuable for passing 
  Fright Checks.
  knoWIng your PlaCe
  Players need to respect two essential principles here. 
  The first is cultural accuracy, to which the GM is advised to 
  demand at least lip service before things get weird. Gamers 
  are welcome to import modern thinking, but they ought to 
  wrap it in period garb: those who want to oppose slavery 
  can play abolitionists, ones who prefer higher-tech settings 
  are welcome to create inventors, those who want female PCs 
  to be something other than fragile belles shouldn’t overlook 
  self-sufficient widows and farmers, and so on. Another part of 
  this requirement is operating within society – because as men-
  tioned already, there are laws, and going around shooting peo-
  ple means swinging from a rope. The need for social finesse is 
  one of the campaign’s major challenges, and the GM may use 
  GURPS Social Engineering to drive this home.
  Second, when things finally do get weird, it’s good role-
  playing – worthy of bonus character points – to act freaked-
  out. Even brave veterans of the Indian and Mexican-American 
  Wars aren’t expecting Voodoo and zombies! People in this era 
  tend to be superstitious, too; there were witch trials in 1830s 
  Tennessee, for instance. The players may suspect or know that 
  the GM is consulting GURPS Horror, GURPS Thaumatology, 
  and GURPS Zombies, but they should do their best to firewall 
  this information.
  Someone in this village is practicing witchcraft. That corpse wandering on the 
  moors is an undead, a zombie.
  – Sir James, in The Plague of the Zombies
  Ordinary Folks
  To preserve this setting’s historical feel, the PCs shouldn’t be too 
  unusual. They cannot wield occult powers, such as the ability to raise 
  or control zombies, or curse people – that stuff is “impossible” at the 
  beginning of the campaign. In fact, there’s no element of overt weird-
  ness of any kind; psychics, time-travelers, world-jumpers, and so on 
  are also unsuitable. The strangest characters are likely to be social 
  outsiders (e.g., foreigners, or perhaps slaves owned by other group 
  members), and it’s best to limit even this to just one or two players 
  on a first-come, first-served basis.
  Reinforcements
  Given that the PCs are ordinary (if competent) people facing foes 
  who have the advantages of surprise, wealth, and occult powers, 
  some of them may end up zombified or dead. To prevent players 
  from bringing in masters of occult lore, professional gunfighters, and 
  other over-the-top replacements, the GM might require all alternates 
  to be locals. It would be helpful to prepare some 50-point templates 
  for farmers, preachers, shopkeepers, etc. and require investigators 
  created in play to be built from these, with their remaining points 
  going toward toughening up enough to give the original heroes cause 
  to accept their help.
  
   
  savage streets 
  17
  Big cities have big problems. You try to take them in stride.
  Not this time.
  Those stories of a new drug – “Grind” or “G” – that makes its 
  users crazy, turns them into cannibals? All true. Talking heads 
  on TV claim the situation is only a problem for addicts. If 
  you live in the ‘burbs, you might actually believe that. But 
  in those inner-city neighborhoods that were never very 
  safe, it’s like a horror movie: daily disappearances and 
  shootouts, fires the FD can’t get near, people eating each 
  other’s brains. And it’s spreading.
  So, what are you going to do about it?
  day one
  The campaign starts with the heroes – big-city cops 
  or vigilantes – becoming aware that a frightening drug 
  problem has boiled out of the shadows of the underworld 
  and started to spread across and beyond the usual bad 
  neighborhoods of their burg. They’re aware that this new 
  drug is incredibly addictive, makes people violent, and is 
  causing record crime. They’ve read reports that the trou-
  bles involve not just the occasional whack-job shouting 
  threats and smashing windows, or gangbangers fighting a turf 
  war, but roving mobs of crazed addicts bent on destruction. 
  And they’ve been assigned (or have taken it upon themselves) 
  to deal with it.
  What they don’t know is the whole truth . . .
  CIty on fIre
  The GM should pick a large city known to have a high 
  crime rate – possibly one the gaming group knows well, con-
  ceivably because they live there. Everything is mostly like it is 
  today, except that there’s a new drug on the streets and things 
  are breaking down.
  tHe War Zone
  The total number of addicts is unknown, but it appears 
  that the producers of Grind targeted everyone who was 
  already addicted to hard stuff – crack, heroin, meth, you name 
  it. Maybe the addicts chose to use something even harder, but 
  more likely they were tricked. However it went down, all but 
  a few users are now behaving like savage pack animals, run-
  ning in mobs, attacking anyone they see. If they get behind the 
  wheel of a vehicle, they trash it. The few who still try to smoke 
  G set a lot of fires.
  The result is that large swaths of the city are a disaster 
  area: the War Zone. Cops and vigilantes trying to deal with 
  the problem find themselves targeted by demented addicts, 
  well-armed dealers (and, many suspect, manufacturers), and  
  dangerous holdouts who’ve decided that it’s TEOTWAWKI 
  (The End Of The World As We Know It), holed up with sup-
  plies and unloading on anything that moves. The official 
  stance is containment. It’ll burn itself out, right?
  Bad medICIne
  Grind can be snorted, smoked, vaped, injected, swallowed 
  . . . anything goes. It has surprisingly little addiction potential, 
  except for users who are hooked on something else – they can’t 
  resist it, and a new craving replaces their former addiction 
  almost overnight. To those on the outside, the stuff appears 
  to have only downsides; it turns a person into a savage psy-
  chopath who barely sleeps, doesn’t talk so much as growl and 
  grind his teeth, and flips out at the drop of a hat. The experi-
  ence supposedly feels like being immortal and powerful, but it 
  sure doesn’t look that way.
  Rumor has it that G is made by injecting people with a 
  precursor substance – which nobody has managed to stabi-
  lize for analysis yet – and then extracting the active agent 
  from the brain. This would be delicate work in a high-tech 
  lab, but it’s doubtless done with a lot less finesse in practice. 
  CHaPter tHree
  savage streets
  at a glanCe:  
  savage streets
  Genre: Modern Action/Weirdness.
  Tech Level: 8.
  Power Level: Hardened Survivors (150 points) to Born 
  Zombie-Killers (250 points).
  Supernatural Powers: None.
  Scope: Local Incident (neighborhoods within a big city).
  Zombies: One type of fast, drug-addled, living zombie, not 
  infectious.
  Useful Supplements: GURPS Action series, GURPS 
  Gun Fu, GURPS High-Tech, GURPS Martial Arts, 
  and GURPS Tactical Shooting.
  
   
  savage streets 
  18
  Initially, the “living drug reactors” were desperate volunteers 
  looking for crack money, but with the breakdown of law and 
  order in the War Zone, abductees are more common. And 
  while extraction doesn’t have to kill the subject, death doesn’t 
  spoil the product.
  Secret Labs
  Nobody is sure who’s producing Grind. At first, it was 
  assumed to be coming in via the usual channels, and the 
  focus was more on dealing with isolated incidents than 
  on trying to confront gangs and cartels on a stretched 
  law-enforcement budget. When things started to get bad, 
  a greater effort was made to track down the source, but 
  detectives were thwarted by an uncharacteristic degree 
  of secrecy and a cutthroat willingness to sacrifice any-
  body who talked – and to take down cops who got too 
  close! Now it mostly doesn’t matter, because ordinary 
  police work is impossible in areas where G is distributed 
  and used. It’s generally accepted that the labs are some-
  where in the heart of the War Zone.
  Crazy theories abound about the origins of Grind. The 
  most popular are:
  Men in Black. Shadowy forces behind the government con-
  cocted G to win the war on drugs – that’s why it targets exist-
  ing addicts, and why the authorities seem content to let the 
  problem “burn itself out.” The resources of a spooky security 
  agency make it easy to guarantee that law-enforcers run into 
  dead ends. Before long, the gangs and users will have torn 
  each other apart, and the crisis will be severe enough to justify 
  a no-questions-asked mop-up. While this is an expensive strat-
  egy, cities can be rebuilt. The masterminds weren’t elected in 
  the first place, so they don’t care if police chiefs, mayors, gov-
  ernors, and other public officials end up taking the fall.
  Aliens. Invaders from space are behind it all! Some people 
  think they’re probing our weaknesses, and that Grind is one 
  weapon among many intended to soften us up for a quiet con-
  quest. Others believe they’re using Earth and its inhabitants 
  as a bio-tech lab to manufacture drugs for off-world sales, and 
  that the local problems are incidental – a kind of industrial 
  runoff. Either way, it’s easy for super-advanced aliens to cre-
  ate a substance that defies human understanding and to foil 
  our investigation of its origins.
  Demons. A few religious types believe this calamity is 
  punishment for our sins. It’s only fitting that the immoral – 
  addicts – are suffering the worst of it, and that a big, sinful 
  city is where it’s taking place. Demonic powers explain why 
  the police caught wind of it only after it was too late, and why 
  their efforts to solve the problem have failed. People who buy 
  into this theory are especially likely to refer to raging addicts 
  as “zombies.”
  Going to the Source
  Whatever the truth, the situation is deteriorating. At first, 
  Grind was sold like any other street drug – perhaps under false 
  pretenses, but money changed hands. However, its effects 
  made life difficult even for hardened dealers, as users knew 
  no fear and started to take what they wanted. And that might 
  have ended the cycle, if it weren’t for two new wrinkles:
  1. Word on how to “cook” Grind hit the streets. Paranoids 
  claim that the Men in Black or aliens or demons leaked the 
  secret, but nobody really knows. While addicts were too 
  messed up to do the job, the worst kinds of gangs were happy 
  to replace the original dealers and do the dirty work. The pre-
  cursor substance they concoct is stable for mere minutes – but 
  that’s more than enough time to inject someone and extract a 
  few hundred hits of G from his brain. Of course, “gangs,” plu-
  ral, is a synonym for “gang war”; the ensuing spate of abduc-
  tions and shootouts has made things much, much scarier.
  2. Somewhere along the line, addicts discovered that if 
  they were already tripping, they could prolong their high by 
  ingesting raw brain matter, even from someone who hadn’t 
  been injected with the precursor. That, a drug-addled user 
  can do, and groups of crazies running people down, cracking 
  their skulls, and eating brains has added a whole new, hor-
  rific dimension to the problem – and invited comparisons with 
  “real” zombies.
  Bad Neighborhoods
  The GM decides how widespread the chaos is, but since 
  even Men in Black, aliens, or demons couldn’t prevent regional 
  or national authorities from shutting down a whole city in 
  disarray, it ought to be confined to areas small enough that 
  life can go on around them (more or less). Police warn people 
  away from these neighborhoods, and control travel into and 
  out of them. The problem continues to spread, though, and it 
  won’t be long before the city does need quarantine.
  Freddy: I can finally see the one thing . . . the one thing that 
  will relieve this horrible suffering.
  Tina: What, Freddy?
  Freddy: A live . . . braaain!
  – The Return of the Living Dead
  
   
  savage streets 
  19
  red eyes, grIndIng teetH
  The zombies here are ripped straight from modern sensa-
  tionalistic reporting on “bath salts” and similar drugs. They’re 
  a critique of – and considerably more than a metaphor for – 
  substance abuse (Zombies, p. 9), inherently scary and embody-
  ing fears of cannibalism (Zombies, p. 8) and disease. More 
  abstractly, they symbolize overpopulation and urban decay. 
  While armchair observers might deem them “victims,” they 
  behave like murderous thugs in the flesh, and law-and-order 
  types – such as action heroes – are liable to see skull-cracking 
  psychos in the same light as violent gang members and junkies 
  who would stab you for a buck: as targets for righteous justice.
  tHe gory detaIls
  These zombies are drug addicts, theoretically curable 
  through medical rehabilitation. That puts an unusual spin on 
  things relative to “classic” zombie folklore and fiction.
  The Meat
  While Grind can kill, that isn’t how it produces zombies. 
  The monsters it creates are alive, if not well. Those who’ve 
  been roaming the streets for a while are usually deficient in 
  the looks department (reduce Appearance) and hygiene (add 
  Bad Smell) – and may even end up with rotting flesh, like 
  users of the notorious Russian street drug krokodil – but that 
  has nothing to do with being dead.
  The Motivation
  Zombification is the direct result of mind-altering drugs; 
  see Zombies in the News: Zombie Drugs (Zombies, p. 22). 
  There’s nothing remotely supernatural about it. The zombies 
  are motivated by science – if bad, shaky, action-movie science.
  Turning Points
  All zombies in this setting start out as people with serious 
  drug problems. If someone with an Addiction to a substance 
  that includes -10 points or worse off the Effects list on p. B122 
  is exposed to Grind, make a withdrawal roll for the origi-
  nal disadvantage. Any failure means the victim replaces the 
  Addiction with the face-eater template. This could in theory 
  happen to a PC, though action heroes are rarely addicts.
  The only certain cure is to withdraw from G, which is totally 
  addictive and induces physiological dependency; see p. B440.
  By tHe numBers
  Face-Eater (Zombies, pp. 101-102) is a good starting point, 
  but the GM may want to make a few tweaks:
  Brains: To make the template worse than the “mere” -40 
  points for the worst kinds of Addictions – so that becom-
  ing a zombie is a step down for everyone – make face-eaters 
  brain-damaged, too. Remove one or two IQ levels, but offset 
  this by adding equal levels of Will and Per, for a net -10 points 
  per -1 to IQ alone. Such zombies are easily outwitted by even 
  the bluntest of action heroes, but no easier to discourage or 
  avoid, all of which seems fitting. Mob behavior is a side effect 
  of Bestial, not a sign of Chummy; like real-world addicts, these 
  ones tend to turn on each other if resources (drugs, brains, or 
  just ordinary food) are scarce.
  Sustenance: Face-eaters need drugs to survive and food for 
  sustenance – not human flesh in either case. However, they can 
  meet the needs of their Addiction (which is to a “Cheap” drug, 
  after all) by taking a dose and then eating brains. Although 
  this is a zero-point feature, rewording the Odious Racial Habit 
  to “Eats Human Brains” is a useful reminder.
  Mutatis Mutandis: Very far-gone zombies will decay to 
  Appearance (Hideous) and/or gain Bad Smell. The GM might 
  wish to add such traits to the template in the service of making 
  it worse than any simple Addiction. To play up such foulness, 
  add the Pestilent Wounds or Pestilent Presence perk. Heroes 
  who plan to tangle with these guys had better have their shots!
  Whatever the final template looks like, a significant propor-
  tion of those who sport it are relatively tough street denizens 
  and gang members – anybody frailer would be torn apart by 
  the competition!
  makIng tHe streets safe agaIn
  This is an action-adventure campaign in which physically 
  perilous situations provide thrills, urban decay offers dis-
  turbing scenes, and weirdness plays a major role, yet there’s 
  relatively little true horror. The PCs are law-enforcers or vig-
  ilantes cleaning up their city, and spend their time battling 
  gangs and lowlifes to accomplish this. While zombies are a 
  constant threat – and a grotesque one! – other adversaries are 
  better-armed. Burning cars, roving gangs, and touchy hold-
  outs offer a taste of the apocalyptic, but civilization soldiers 
  on outside, offering changes of mood, complex social sub-
  plots, or just bigger, nastier guns.
  It’s a lot of overblown 
  nonsense, a lot of drug  
  nuts running wild.
  – Philip, in Shaun of 
  the Dead
  
   
  savage streets 
  20
  setuP
  The campaign is TL8 action that pits crime-fighters against 
  scumbags, with the major twists of crazy, face-eating zombies 
  and city blocks in post-apocalyptic ruin.
  Starting Conditions
  The PCs fall somewhere between competent-but-plau-
  sible people (150 points) and over-the-top action heroes 
  (250 points). They’re exceedingly unlikely to be zombified, 
  and the GM can avoid that outcome altogether with a blan-
  ket and completely in-genre proclamation: “No addicts.” 
  Everybody knows that cannibalistic psychos have taken 
  over the city’s worst neighborhoods, that the problem is 
  drug-related, and that the situation is spreading; none of 
  that needs to be kept secret. The GM’s toughest task might 
  be to review GURPS High-Tech (and possibly GURPS Gun 
  Fu and/or GURPS Tactical Shooting) and work out what 
  hardware is available to starting characters!
  Homework
  The main piece of pre-campaign prep (aside from stock-
  ing the armory) is obtaining a good city map, outlining the 
  affected area, and making a copy for the players – and then 
  annotating a separate, secret copy with any additional infor-
  mation pertaining to the true source of the problem. As there 
  will be constant fighting, it’s also a good idea to have tactical 
  maps and figures to hand.
  rules
  Since face-eaters do attack barehanded and in mobs, and 
  are often bitey, it’s a good idea to be familiar with Zombies 
  in Combat (Zombies, pp. 108-118). Especially important rules 
  are Biting 101 (Zombies, pp. 108-109), Can’t Stun This and I’ll 
  Sleep When I’m Dead (Zombies, p. 111), and the various rules 
  for hordes (Zombies, pp. 112-117). Urban warriors will prob-
  ably exploit Mobility (Zombies, pp. 121-122) and might end up 
  needing Run for Your Life (Zombies, p. 122).
  On the other hand, none of the rules for infection are 
  especially important. Long-term survival rules can be 
  ignored, too, as the PCs will usually be able to leave the 
  War Zone to resupply. And mobs just don’t get big enough to 
  need the game mechanics for tipping over cars and batter-
  ing down barricades.
  The GM might allow somebody who knows Chemistry, 
  Pharmacy, and Physician to use A Better Tomorrow (Zombies, 
  pp. 129-133) to develop a cure more effective than hope-for-
  the-best withdrawal. That isn’t strongly in the action-movie 
  idiom, however, but tweedy scientist stuff that’s prone to fail-
  ure. Still, an NPC set on this goal could provide the basis for a 
  few adventures – especially if the PCs have to provide security!
  mood and PaCIng
  Savage Streets works best as a mission-oriented campaign. 
  The GM might want to kick it off with a “pilot episode” during 
  which the heroes first discover the threat – an adventure with 
  stronger horror and mystery elements than what will follow. 
  To have an ongoing story, though, the PCs must fail to prevent 
  the spread of Grind and the ensuing breakdown of law and 
  order over a large area. Perhaps they start out on just 50 or 
  100 points, barely escape alive, and come back with a ven-
  geance (and more points!).
  As more than a few sessions of “enter the War Zone and 
  fight zombies” would get boring, each adventure should pres-
  ent a specific problem to solve. Examples include shutting 
  down a new drug lab, rescuing someone important who has 
  inadvertently strayed into danger, extracting the G-addicted 
  family member of a VIP, escorting scientists who plan to set 
  up a field lab in the area to analyze the short-lived precursor 
  drug, and closing a sewer or a subway tunnel being used by 
  dealers or wandering mobs of zombies. Not all missions need 
  to happen in the Zone, either. Sudden flare-ups of face-eaters 
  outside the usual neighborhoods would need to be shut down 
  with extreme prejudice – and investigating rumors of where 
  Grind came from could lead the heroes to sterile pharmaceu-
  ticals labs or the halls of power.
  A variety of adversaries is also essential to maintaining 
  interest. Face-eaters should be a constant threat, and can 
  differ without mutating; some might be armed as heavily as 
  Bestial allows (Zombies, p. 58), or wearing body armor, or 
  just unusually tough. The tactical environment can change the 
  danger they represent; e.g., if they’re in a former meth lab, 
  an old refinery full of flammable chemicals, or service tun-
  nels that contain gas mains, the heroes can’t simply hurl flash-
  bangs and blaze away. Just as important are the well-armed 
  drug gangs capitalizing on the chaos, bent on keeping cops 
  off their turf and bringing their product to new markets; they 
  might even have tame zombies as “guard dogs.” Other danger-
  ous people may be drawn to lawlessness, too, from criminals 
  who have no ties to the drug trade to heavily armed, govern-
  ment-hating survivalists. And if the whole scenario was engi-
  neered by someone, there could be minders in the mix!
  Rules to Avoid
  Rules for inventing new zombie types have no place 
  in this campaign; maybe somebody is tinkering with G, 
  but if so, that’s “off screen.” Above all else, avoid anything 
  with a supernatural tinge. Face-eaters are the product of 
  bad, mad, or weird science, but have no ties to the occult 
  (despite occasional rumors of demonic drug dealers!).
  Civil behavior is what 
  distinguishes us from the lower 
  forms. It’s what enables us to 
  communicate. To go about things 
  in an orderly fashion, without 
  attacking each other like beasts.
  – Dr. Logan,  
  in Day of the Dead
  
   
  savage streets 
  21
  The situation should evolve throughout the campaign. At 
  least one hot-headed SWAT commander with a squad of trig-
  ger-happy wannabe-commandos – or a hawkish military offi-
  cer with real firepower at his fingertips – is bound to decide 
  that it’s better to level the War Zone than to contain it, even 
  if that means killing lots of innocent civilians. The original 
  dealers might be secret agents, or alien agents, and take objec-
  tion to the heroes’ efforts. Things could get even weirder; e.g., 
  a mutant pathogen spread by shared needles might offer a 
  new, biological threat, perhaps even plague ghouls (Zombies, 
  pp. 90-91) or infected (Zombies, pp. 97-98).
  It all ends when the GM and players have had enough. A 
  satisfying conclusion would be to have the heroes’ efforts at 
  escorting scientists, raiding labs, recovering specimens, and 
  peeling away the layers of conspiracy eventually reveal a reli-
  able way to rehabilitate face-eaters and let the city rebuild. On 
  the other hand, if the gaming group is itching for a genuine 
  zombie apocalypse, that would be easy enough to arrange.
  tougH Calls
  As befits an action-adventure story, truly difficult 
  judgments aren’t a big part of the picture. The idea is 
  to keep the cameras rolling, not to agonize dramati-
  cally. Still, inside the War Zone, Sacrifice (Zombies, 
  p. 121) by PCs – and Betrayal! (Zombies, p. 145) by 
  NPCs – could arise.
  A larger concern is that it might not be a SWAT 
  team or the military who decides that leveling the 
  whole place would be the most expedient fix. The play-
  ers may arrive at that conclusion and have the heroes 
  take action. The GM must be prepared either to have 
  someone step in and prevent that outcome – poten-
  tially forcing the PCs to pursue their agenda on the sly, 
  which should be harder and much riskier – or to per-
  mit it, but only after a lot of jumping through hoops.
  It’s a tougH JoB
  The PCs are either genuine law-enforcers or vigilantes in 
  the action mold. While they might be capable investigators 
  – perhaps even detectives on paper – mystery-solving is a 
  secondary objective. First and foremost, they’ll be fighting 
  bad guys.
  CHaraCter CreatIon
  All the PCs should be tough enough to pass as 
  action heroes and motivated to risk their lives to 
  keep the city safe. They’ll need combat abilities, 
  the skills to operate TL8 gear, and a dose of luck 
  (and maybe Luck). They needn’t be locals, how-
  ever. Vigilantes might come from all over, know-
  ing that they’re unlikely to be collared for their 
  actions in the War Zone. A group of lawmen could 
  be even more diverse – a task force made up of 
  members of municipal, regional, and national 
  services, perhaps bolstered by foreign consultants 
  (“There’s a similar problem in Johannesburg. Piet 
  is here on exchange.”).
  Power Level
  Anything from 150-point hardened survivors 
  (Zombies, p. 39) to 250-point GURPS Action 
  heroes could work. A more horrific prequel 
  adventure might start below this level (maybe 
  even at 50 points!) and then see the PCs return 
  considerably fortified.
  Character Types
  The PCs needn’t fill any special set of roles, but if using 
  GURPS Action, the assassin, big guy, demolition man, fast 
  guy, ninja, shooter, and weapon master will fare best at fight-
  ing off bad guys; the traceur will be in his element in the 
  city; and a good medic and wheel man would be welcome. 
  New Kids on the Block
  While there’s plenty of danger in this campaign, its general 
  mode is over-the-top action, not grim horror. Still, PCs could perish 
  in play. If so, the GM may want to be generous about allowing play-
  ers to bring in someone optimized to face the War Zone’s hazards. 
  This is the world of jet travel, cell phones, and the Internet, and it’s 
  mostly still intact – if the heroes discover and publicize new truths 
  about the situation, there’s no reason to suppose that won’t attract 
  experts in the field.
  Harsh Realism?
  Though the campaign isn’t overly realistic and the heroes may 
  have cinematic traits, exotic and supernatural abilities are off-lim-
  its. Nobody can be a psi or a wizard or a superhero. In particular, 
  no PC can have any power over the face-eaters. Weird science – or 
  perhaps aliens or demons, if they actually exist – might control the 
  zombies, but that’s the realm of shadowy NPCs.
  We have 12 of these 
  shotgun shells, 26 of these 
  pussy nine mils, and 16  
  of those .357 Magnums.
  – Tucker, in Dawn of  
  the Dead (2004)
  
   
  savage streets 
  22
  Legitimate lawmen will need the law enforcement lens, while 
  vigilantes may well have the criminal one.
  The GM decides whether to encourage more cerebral 
  heroes. The campaign might involve not only fighting gangs 
  and face-eaters, but also coming up with a cure for Grind 
  addiction – and maybe even looking into rumors that the 
  mayor is in cahoots with a creepy conspiracy to “clean up” 
  slums and rebuild at a profit. If so, the GM should inform the 
  players that their characters require a broader range of inves-
  tigative and technical capabilities.
  Required Traits
  It’s essential that everybody have combat skills, preferably 
  both the high-tech kind and solid martial arts – face-eaters 
  are fast and strong, attack barehanded, and won’t always be 
  encountered at shooting distance. In a GURPS Action game, 
  everyone will have Luck, and even if not using that series, the 
  GM might make Luck a campaign advantage.
  Appropriate Traits
  A capacity for sneakiness 
  and urban survival will make 
  things more fun; see Staying 
  Out of Reach (Zombies, pp. 120-
  122) for relevant skills. No spe-
  cial zombie-related traits from 
  pp. 26-32 of Zombies are par-
  ticularly fitting, though action 
  heroes are likely to have SOP 
  (On Alert), and the GM may find 
  Tastes Bad amusing if the tone 
  is less-than-serious.
  Be aware that while this 
  campaign is “realistic” in the 
  sense that there are no exotic 
  or supernatural elements, it 
  supports cinematic play. The 
  GM might permit some or all 
  of Gadgeteer, Gizmos, Gun-
  slinger, Trained by a Master, 
  and Weapon Master. Doing 
  so means the heroes’ capabil-
  ities will depart from reality 
  to about the same extent as 
  the campaign’s take on science (drugs that create mindless 
  cannibals) and society (letting those cannibals wreck entire 
  blocks of urban landscape). It’s a good match.
  CleanIng uP tHe CIty
  The most important thing for players to bear in mind is 
  that the heroes are larger-than-life troubleshooters. They’re 
  here to contain the face-eater problem, crush the Grind 
  gangs, give the War Zone back to the city’s citi-
  zens, and – if something deeper than street-level 
  crime lurks behind it all – solve the mystery. 
  They must bear justice in mind at all times, 
  although they’re welcome to bend the law. It’s 
  fine to shoot first and ask questions later when 
  there’s no practical way to drag a punk or a 
  crazed addict in front of a judge, but always 
  in service to restoring order . . . never out of a 
  desire to commit mass murder.
  The other thing to remember is that the PCs 
  are Big Damn Heroes. This isn’t survival horror 
  – there’s no place for shooting your associate 
  in the knee so that the face-eaters go after him 
  instead of you. In that situation, the right thing 
  to do is to turn around and slow down the zom-
  bies so he can escape. Sacrifice is cool; betrayal 
  is not. This goes double when screaming victims 
  in a burning tenement need rescuing from a mob, or when a 
  Grind addict who manages to shake the habit crawls up and 
  begs for asylum. Remember: Big Damn Heroes.
  There’s no need to extend the dramatic concessions to 
  being surprised or frightened by face-eaters, though. Any-
  body going into the War Zone expects trouble, and packs for 
  it. The PCs might not know the problem’s root cause, much 
  less its solution, but the facts on the ground are no mystery. 
  Be prepared!
  Gear Check
  The PCs will have all manner of TL8 equipment from GURPS 
  High-Tech. Guns and shooting accessories are especially import-
  ant, and more can be found in GURPS Gun Fu, GURPS Loadouts: 
  Monster Hunters, and GURPS Tactical Shooting. Still, remember 
  that law-enforcers are generally issued their loadouts, while vigilan-
  tes are mostly limited to LC3+ gear, with some LC2 hardware if the 
  GM agrees (game out its acquisition in play!) and no LC0-1 kit at all. 
  The GM should also keep the little things in mind . . . notably, there 
  will be places in the War Zone where cell phones don’t work, and 
  streets where fallen lampposts and crashed cars force the heroes to 
  get out and walk.
  
   
  Zeta forCe 
  23
  The first thing you learn is that we’re built to become zom-
  bies. No thanks to a genetic foible, the human body has cel-
  lular vulnerabilities that enable mutant pathogens, strange 
  chemicals, and bizarre energies to hijack it – even (especially!) 
  after death. The brain is extra-susceptible; short-circuit it the 
  right way and even the fittest body comes along for the ride. 
  Eggheads who work on this stuff call it “the evolutionary price 
  of intelligence,” whatever that means.
  The second thing they teach you is that scary people keep 
  trying. True, Nature did it first – but then, Nature offers 
  all kinds of unpleasant stuff that humans strive to purify, 
  “improve,” weaponize. The prospect of mindless soldiers, 
  tireless slaves, and compliant citizen-drones is irresistible to 
  totalitarians, crime lords, and psychopaths. Mad scientists, 
  especially. Oh, and sorcerers.
  That’s the third thing, although they save it for last 
  because it blows minds: Science isn’t the be-all, end-all 
  you might think it is. It’s powerful and not wrong, but 
  . . . well, you know about Franz Mesmer? Russian and 
  CIA mind-control experiments during the Cold War? 
  Controlling body functions using yoga? Almost every-
  thing that every culture ever believed about shamans 
  and necromancy? It isn’t all hooey, and way too many of 
  the true parts can create zombies.
  That’s why Zeta Force exists. Yes, the “Z” in “Zeta” 
  stands for “zombie” – we hunt them down. More often, 
  we hunt people who create zombies. There may be good 
  guys doing good things with good zombies, but we’ve 
  never met them.
  day one
  After suitable commencement speeches, congratula-
  tions, and so on, the newly minted Zeta Force squad is 
  sent on its first zombie-containment mission. This involves a 
  remote locale and NPC supervision, in case the newbies screw 
  up. The existence of zombies is no mystery to them – this is 
  what they’ve been trained for! – but they have no idea what 
  kind of zombies they’re up against. And most ordinary people 
  don’t believe in zombies, so the team must be discreet.
  If the PCs start near the bottom of the suggested power 
  range (100 points), they’ll be ordinary people with extraor-
  dinary knowledge, tasked to deal with something like a lone 
  zombie terrorizing an isolated village. If they’re closer to 
  GURPS Monster Hunters material (400 points), they’ll wield 
  magic and powers of their own, and may be dropped into a 
  situation that would threaten apocalypse if it weren’t so far 
  from airports and big cities.
  tHe World, unredaCted
  The backdrop for this campaign is the here and now – all of 
  it. Zombies could show up anywhere, at any time. That might 
  mean downtown São Paulo, or a graveyard in rural Nebraska, 
  or the Tanzanian wilderness, or the Australian Outback . . . 
  anywhere. The PCs will be traveling a lot.
  tHe ComPany
  During the Cold War, defense scientists pursuing fringe 
  research projects on behalf of the nuclear superpowers dis-
  covered that zombies exist, most often in the shape of poor 
  Third World villagers with improbable fungal infections, par-
  asites, or environmental poisoning. They also learned that 
  where there are zombies, the local wise-folk sometimes create 
  them intentionally – most often by manipulating quantifiable 
  natural phenomena, but occasionally via some sort of psychic 
  influence. Interest in exploiting zombification and the occult 
  as weapons was inevitable. The ensuing experiments were 
  conducted in utmost secrecy.
  In the 1970s, pop-culture zombie films spurred sev-
  eral governments to devote modest sums of research 
  money to assessing the risk of a global zombie apocalypse.  
  CHaPter four
  Zeta forCe
  at a glanCe: Zeta forCe
  Genre: Modern Monster-Hunters/Conspiracy.
  Tech Level: 8^.
  Power Level: Heroic (100 points) to Born Zombie-Killers 
  (400 points).
  Supernatural Powers: Magic and psi for NPCs and poten-
  tially for PCs.
  Scope: Local Incidents (very much plural).
  Zombies: Almost all of them!
  Useful Supplements: GURPS High-Tech, GURPS Horror, 
  GURPS Monster Hunters series, and anything that cov-
  ers the GM’s preferred superhuman gifts (GURPS Magic, 
  GURPS Powers, GURPS Thaumatology, and the like).
  
   
  Zeta forCe 
  24
  The answer was a resounding “when, not if.” Such a doom 
  could be a bacterial, viral, or psychic plague . . . or a conse-
  quence of residual radiation from nuclear testing . . . or even 
  (as one particularly alarmist study claimed) a side effect of 
  hastily approved food additives. All the white papers agreed 
  that humans are predisposed to zombification, that many  
  of the potential causes are infectious, and that terrorists 
  could engineer an extinction-level catastrophe all too easily.
  This scare was the genesis of Zeta Force: an armed United 
  Nations organization, the likes of which previously existed 
  only in secret-agent movies. Today, Zeta Force recruits and 
  deploys globally despite the enormous barriers to such coop-
  eration. It represents not so much a step toward world peace 
  as a one-off effort to avoid a specific peril terrifying enough to 
  inspire even bitter rivals to work together. Most impressively, 
  it manages to accomplish all this secretly, often using the WHO 
  as cover.
  Zeta Force isn’t a well-funded agency with intensive train-
  ing and cutting-edge gear. It’s a patchy compromise that draws 
  its funding from leftfield research initiatives and its personnel 
  from a witch’s brew of aid groups, military 
  services, LEOs, scientific bodies, and actual 
  witches. Nobody can deny that mysticism and 
  traditional beliefs sometimes appear to have 
  real power – although there are endless argu-
  ments over which rituals are necessary and 
  which are superstitious window-dressing. 
  And with members of all the world’s religions 
  on the roster, friction is a way of life.
  tHe Work
  Most of Zeta Force’s resources are chan-
  neled into researching potential threats and 
  preventing them from developing into full-
  blown dangers. Such preemptive efforts have 
  a so-so track record. The “fun” work is done 
  by troubleshooters in the field, who shoot 
  three main classes of trouble.
  Natural Mysteries
  Most of the local outbreaks that trouble-
  shooters confront don’t involve the deliberate 
  efforts of troublemakers. They just happen. 
  Causes run the gamut from obscure tropical diseases and 
  parasites, through mutant cassava strains that poison people 
  and leave them zombified, to meteorites that emit mysterious 
  radiation that energizes the recently dead. Standard protocol 
  is to contain the zombies, neutralize the source, conceal the 
  weirdness, and finally tip off conventional agencies to handle 
  cleanup and care.
  Forgotten Projects
  Given that traditional beliefs knew of zombies millennia 
  before the Cold War, it isn’t surprising that over the inter-
  vening years, other groups stumbled upon and attempted to 
  exploit the idea. Scientists fascinated with galvanism, mes-
  merism, élan vital, orgone, and so on might have messed with 
  it; the Nazis definitely did. Cold War superpowers were the 
  worst; many frightening projects were destroyed, all records 
  burned and the evidence sealed in bunkers. Nobody at Zeta 
  Force is surprised at reports of zombies near the ruins of 
  an 18th- or 19th-century mansion or a WWII concentration 
  camp – or when the job involves an underground complex sev-
  eral kilometers beyond a rusty wire fence adorned with faded 
  1950s-era Department of Defense signage. Such “bug hunts” 
  inevitably start with hopelessly incomplete briefings and end 
  in forgotten places that boast plenty of unstable materials and 
  no lights.
  Scheming Scum
  Then there are the would-be zombie-masters – black magi-
  cians, mad scientists, and the like. Some are merely irrespon-
  sible, curiosity trumping safety and common sense. Others 
  work for criminal or terror groups. A few serve rogue states 
  that want nothing to do with the U.N. Going up against these 
  enemies involves battling armed goons more often than zom-
  bies, and then releasing terrified prisoners and cleaning up 
  hazardous materials.
  tHe enemy
  Born of Cold War paranoia, Zeta Force is prepared for – 
  some would say built around – the possibility that beyond left-
  over Nazi labs, crackpot scientists, and rogue republics with 
  Ministries of Sorcery, it has a nemesis, which the think tank 
  assigned to such things has imaginatively dubbed “Nemesis.” 
  Like Zeta Force, this hypothetical organization employs sub-
  ject-matter experts to investigate anything to do with zombies. 
  Unlike Zeta Force, it exploits natural phenomena and absorbs 
  lesser projects, forgotten and current. The think tank believes 
  that Nemesis’ theoretical goal would be either global zombie 
  apocalypse (out of religious zeal or extreme political ideol-
  ogy) or world domination (by zombifying everyone, or at least 
  enough of us to keep the rest in line).
  But of course that’s all conjecture by analysts who would 
  share any actual proof with field agents.
  
   
  Zeta forCe 
  25
  all tHe World’s ZomBIes
  On the “meta” level, the fact that humans are always one 
  monkey bite or radioactive meteorite away from zombifica-
  tion makes this setting’s dominant fear that of becoming a 
  zombie. Even fearless monster-killers who see zombies as 
  targets can neither deny the fact they’re hunting unfortunate 
  victims nor escape the feeling they might be next. Still, zom-
  bies often are savage assailants, quite capable of conjuring 
  fear in their own right. By mixing types, the GM can invoke 
  fears of disease, decay, and death. If Nemesis is out to rule the 
  world, add fear of conformity to the mix. And there’s plenty 
  of room to use zombies as a critique of not only totalitari-
  anism (whether in the guise of Nazis, nuclear superpowers, 
  or Nemesis), but also faceless corporations with their toxic 
  waste and dodgy lunchmeat.
  tHe gory detaIls
  When it comes to zombies, almost anything goes – almost.
  The Meat
  Most zombies Zeta Force faces are living: people whose life 
  functions or mental processes have been suborned by weird 
  natural effects or mad science. A few are undead energized 
  by an external source, almost all of them either intact corpses 
  of the recently deceased or cadavers preserved by retro super-
  science. A subset of these walking dead are technically con-
  structs – dead flesh stitched together with implants or mutant 
  body parts.
  Seriously rotten undead, mummies, skeletons, and solid-
  ified spirits don’t fit the background assumptions, however. 
  Such zombies simply don’t exist.
  The Motivation
  Infection, infestation, and radioactive space dust are the 
  commonest “natural” causes of zombies, although sponta-
  neous mutation isn’t unknown. Most manmade zombies are 
  manifestations of TL5^ to TL8^ weird science. Such crea-
  tures are typically products of premeditated experimentation, 
  whether that involves mind-altering drugs, steampunk-esque 
  galvanism, super-soldier serums, or engineered infection, 
  mutation, or radiation. Occasionally, however, they’re acci-
  dents of toxic waste or nuclear testing.
  Supernatural zombies are rarer. All draw power from 
  the sorcerer’s mind. Gods, evil spirits, and cursed ground 
  are often cited to explain such magic, but decades of Rus-
  sian research point to the active influence being akin to 
  “psychic phenomena.”
  Turning Points
  Nearly every zombification pattern described in Spreading 
  the Fun (Zombies, pp. 124-129) is known, with the notewor-
  thy exceptions of any process described as a “curse” and any 
  modifier stemming from ritual desecration or purification. 
  Zeta Force has encountered not just zombies that infect 
  those they attack but also non-zombie carriers (including ani-
  mals!), sites where fresh corpses won’t stay down, and protean 
  plagues (Zombies, p. 127). Some infections are sudden; others 
  are slow, and treatable with drugs or by removing inoculated 
  body parts.
  Consequently, PCs can become zombies. Undead are a lost 
  cause, but the living can sometimes be saved. Details depend 
  on the zombie template – and the GM. Zeta Force spends a lot 
  of time on the sort of research discussed in A Better Tomorrow 
  (Zombies, pp. 129-133), and can treat several known forms of 
  zombification. Pursuing the cure for a new variety is a com-
  mon mission profile.
  By tHe numBers
  Drawing on the above advice, the following Zombies tem-
  plates fit best:
  • B-Movie Ghoul (Zombies, pp. 90-91), any subtype, 
  but with the Rotting Corpse meta-trait replaced with Intact 
  Corpse and “Won’t Become a Rotting Corpse.”
  • Galvanoid (Zombies, p. 92).
  • Infected (Zombies, p. 97) of any strain, especially the 
  Returner.
  • Infested (Zombies, pp. 98-99) of all kinds.
  • Neuroid (Zombies, p. 103).
  • Reanimated Corpse (Zombies, pp. 100-101), with the 
  Rotting Corpse meta-trait replaced with Intact Corpse and 
  “Won’t Become a Rotting Corpse” – and generally with 
  Dependency on mana replaced with Dependency on a potion 
  or some form of psychic Maintenance.
  • Shattered Minds (Zombies, pp. 101-103) of all kinds.
  • Soldier X (Zombies, p. 104).
  • Zombot (Zombies, p. 93).
  Endless new zombie types are possible – use the above 
  for inspiration! Bosses are likely, too, and typically have the 
  Smart (Zombies, pp. 105-106) and/or Zombie Zero (Zombies, 
  p. 107) lens.
  People from all walks of life can become zombies – although 
  Nazi and Cold War experiments tended to favor superior spec-
  imens. Zombification is a uniquely human problem, however. 
  Animals carry zombie plagues but don’t become zombies.
  Haitian radio reported the 
  discovery . . . of a peculiar group 
  of individuals, found wandering 
  aimlessly in what appeared to be a 
  psychotic state. The local peasants 
  identified them as zombis and reported 
  the matter to the local authorities . . .
  – Wade Davis, The Serpent  
  and the Rainbow
  
   
  Zeta forCe 
  26
  mIssIon ProfIle
  A Zeta Force campaign walks a difficult line between mind-
  less splatter (when the troubleshooters are more than a match 
  for the opposition, rolling their eyes at zombies and succeed-
  ing handily) and genuine horror (when the same heroes face 
  terrifically bad odds in creepy places and are in constant dan-
  ger of infection). Moreover, it roams the real world rather 
  than a made-up fantasy land or a single town. Then there 
  are all the different zombies. The GM has to be prepared for 
  almost anything.
  setuP
  The campaign is at its heart a TL8 technothriller where 
  most of the “techno” comes from TL5^ to TL8^ weird science 
  and the “thriller” is a consequence of zombies.
  Starting Conditions
  Power level is highly variable. At one end of the scale, the 
  GM might have the players create moderately realistic 100-
  point agents that rely heavily on Zeta Force’s resources. Such 
  troubleshooters probably lack superhuman abilities, depend-
  ing instead on extreme preparedness enabled by the knowl-
  edge that zombies exist. Their organization certainly issues 
  military-grade (LC1-2) hardware, and may well provide “spe-
  cial” weapons and even antidotes to known types of zombifica-
  tion. Emphasis is squarely on the “techno” side of the thriller.
  At the other end is GURPS Monsters Hunters with zom-
  bies as the featured monsters. This pits 400-point heroes – 
  some of whom might be stranger than the zombies – against 
  the world. Abilities-wise, they’re prepared for almost any-
  thing. Zeta Force employs them specifically because its sup-
  port is patchy and it can’t guarantee much assistance. These 
  near-superheroes are the only thing standing between it 
  and mission failure!
  Either way, the GM needs to think about Heroes, 
  Resistance, and Immunity (Zombies, p. 30) beforehand. 
  What specific zombies exist? How do they infect people? 
  Can the PCs be resistant or immune – and is there a blanket 
  “Common” category for Resistant that affects all forms of 
  zombification? The latter would be simplest in such a kitch-
  en-sink campaign. Alternatively, the GM might determine 
  individual resistance in secret as each new zombie plague is 
  introduced; see Knowledge of Immunity (Zombies, pp. 151-
  152) for advice. And if using Monster Hunters, check 
  out Infection (GURPS Monster Hunters 3: The Enemy, 
  pp. 12-13) for yet another possible approach.
  Homework
  Beyond character-creation guidelines, the GM needs to 
  have a decent grasp of world geography. The Internet can 
  provide valuable assistance here. Ruling ahead of time that 
  Wikipedia and Google Maps get the final say on what a place 
  looks like might elicit grumbles from detail-oriented players – 
  but really, such tools are more than adequate for a “go in, deal 
  with the zombies, get out, and never return” mission.
  One last thing the GM may wish to work out ahead of time 
  are tables for weird and wonderful zombie mutations – and 
  perhaps even for what kind of zombies are actually out there 
  this time. See Dicing for Zombies (Zombies, p. 143) for ideas.
  rules
  Given the huge range of possible zombies, nearly any rule 
  in Zombies could become important. Ever-changing threats 
  make Discovering Zombie Flaws (Zombies, p. 35) a regular 
  mission goal, Know Your Zombies (Zombies, pp. 111-112) 
  sound advice, and the twists of But It Didn’t Bite Me! (Zombies, 
  p. 127) appealing – and the canny GM will either bookmark 
  or memorize Wounding Modifiers and Zombies (Zombies, 
  p. 110) and Zombie Toughness (Zombies, p. 111). The spec-
  ter of apocalypse renders Biohazard! (Zombies, pp. 119-120) 
  and Spreading the Fun (Zombies, pp. 124-129) crucial, and 
  the additional detail of Splatter (Zombies, p. 125) and If Thine 
  Eye Offends Thee (Zombies, p. 128) worthwhile. And though 
  zombies aren’t likely to spook stalwart troubleshooters, every 
  assignment should involve an unexpected development that 
  calls for Fright Checks (Zombies, p. 109).
  A Better Tomorrow (Zombies, pp. 129-133) is important to 
  organizational goals; the PCs are likely to be ordered to collect 
  samples using some of the skills listed there. Pay particular 
  attention to The Disease Is the Cure and The Cure Is the Disease 
  (Zombies, p. 131), and The Big Reboot (Zombies, pp. 132-
  133). Applying those concepts to some zombie problems but 
  not others can keep things fresh.
  Finally, remember that bad guys will be using Zombification 
  (Zombies, pp. 133-136)! Those rules can inspire new zombie 
  types and offer an idea of how big, expensive, and obvious zom-
  bie-making projects should be. Technological Zombification 
  (Zombies, pp. 135-136) is especially relevant.
  mood and PaCIng
  The Zeta Force campaign is episodic and mission-based, 
  but with overarching plots festering in the background, gell-
  ing over time. Early assignments might concern zombie inci-
  dents that are seemingly or actually unrelated to one another. 
  Unless the heroes are high-powered, these should probably 
  start small and focus on “accidental” or “natural” zombifi-
  cation: a handful of disease victims in a remote tropical des-
  tination, a radioactive meteor strike out back of nowhere, a 
  minor-but-disturbing food-contamination problem that was 
  barely caught in time, and so on.
  Rules to Avoid
  Otherworldly curses and entities (spirits, gods, etc.) do 
  not suit this campaign. That mostly rules out True Faith 
  (Zombies, p. 118) and any application of Spreading the 
  Fun (Zombies, pp. 124-129), Reverse the Curse (Zombies, 
  pp. 131-132), or Supernatural Zombification (Zombies, 
  pp. 133-135) that can’t be explained in terms of mecha-
  nistic spellcasting, psionics, and strange potions.
  
   
  Zeta forCe 
  27
  Once the troubleshooters find their “Z legs,” their superi-
  ors will trust them with more deliberate threats. If the agents 
  are matching wits with zombie-masters – be they Detroit drug 
  dealers, Herbert Wests operating out of basement labs, or 
  self-styled sorcerers using potions or telepathy – these inci-
  dents should remain small-scale. If the zombies are forgotten 
  leftovers – like Ahnenerbe medical experiments, or 1950s-era 
  CIA- or KGB-backed science projects – the danger might come 
  from the problem’s sheer size instead of an active mastermind.
  After that, things can get really interesting, with active and 
  elusive enemies – ranging from terror groups to magic-using 
  brotherhoods – pursuing large-scale projects. The GM might 
  plant evidence of such rivals earlier on to foreshadow this 
  development; e.g., survivors of a remote zombie outbreak 
  speaking of other researchers who visited earlier, extremely 
  new footprints in the old Nazi lab, or smalltime zombie-mak-
  ers mysteriously vanishing before the PCs locate them. When 
  the troubleshooters report on this, their superiors will open a 
  file . . . after which it’s only a matter of time before the heroes 
  are ordered to look into a villainous plan to infect a zombie 
  walk (Zombies, p. 16) with genuine zombie pathogens, per-
  haps in a major city, conceivably during a G8 summit.
  Once Zeta Force has engaged such an enemy, all bets are 
  off! Investigation becomes a secret war, with the agency’s 
  clandestine rivals hurling near-invincible super-soldiers at its 
  operatives – super-soldiers whom records show to be com-
  mandos and spies who went MIA months or years ago. Global 
  apocalypse looms. Nemesis starts to seem disturbingly real.
  If that doesn’t shake up the campaign, the GM can have 
  the agents’ superiors start to create zombie horrors of their 
  own – strictly to understand or battle the enemy, of course. 
  (“Director, we must not allow a zombie gap!”) Faced with the 
  revelation that all those after-action reports and samples col-
  lected to help develop cures ultimately facilitated a zombie cold 
  war, will the heroes object or stand fast? And 
  if they refuse to countenance zombie-making, 
  where will they turn for support against their 
  former employer. Who will even believe tales 
  of zombies and sorcery?
  tougH Calls
  A Zeta Force campaign can get complex 
  and paranoid enough to leave the GM facing 
  some seriously tough issues:
  Playable zombies. With myriad forms of zombification out 
  there, it’s conceivable that some might leave the victim func-
  tioning both physically and rationally. If such a process is 
  designed to create powerful super-soldiers, a certain kind of 
  player may even seek such transformation! The GM has the 
  final call, but agents who “go zombie” are usually cured if they 
  can be, “retired” otherwise – inform the players of this policy 
  in advance, and use the rules in Infected! (Zombies, p. 151) 
  to give other troubleshooters a chance to notice what’s going 
  on. If the GM is willing to allow mentally stable, non-conta-
  gious zombie PCs, it’s fairest if any special abilities are paid 
  for with offsetting drawbacks to keep Zeta Force from becom-
  ing Zombie Club.
  Playable zombie-makers. High-powered Zeta Force cam-
  paigns might feature heroes with supernatural abilities, 
  including the potential to create zombies. Troubleshooters 
  may possess such gifts, but using them goes directly against 
  the organization’s purpose. Agents who do so and are found 
  out will be hunted down . . . well, right up until Zeta Force 
  ends up in a zombie cold war with Nemesis, anyway.
  Cross and double-cross. Possibly because they want to play 
  or control zombies, some players may have their charac-
  ters turn coat, perhaps even go as far as Betrayal! (Zombies, 
  p. 145). That’s their right – but remember that regardless of 
  whether the PCs have supernatural gifts, Zeta Force has staff 
  who do. They have ways of finding traitors; that’s probably 
  how they’ve lasted so long. Remind the players of this, too.
  Really screwing up. The troubleshooters might simply 
  botch a mission aimed at, oh, preventing the zombie apoca-
  lypse. If the GM isn’t ready to run that campaign, Zeta Force 
  can step in and recover the fumble. The agents are likely to be 
  demoted or lose privileges, and the players certainly shouldn’t 
  earn character points for the adventure!
  trouBlesHooters
  Zeta Force agents are professionals specialized in all things 
  zombie. Whatever their personal power level, they know the 
  truth about zombies and are sworn to protect humanity from 
  zombification – whether that means saving one person or foil-
  ing a global apocalypse.
  CHaraCter CreatIon
  All troubleshooters are up-to-date (TL8) individuals with 
  some skills of value in the war on zombies, whether that means 
  investigative and combat abilities for hunting down zombies 
  and zombie-makers, an understanding of epidemiology and 
  biohazards, esoteric knowledge of zombies in their own right, 
  or supporting talents in such areas as vehicles and armory. 
  Whatever their specialty, they’ve all been trained in a few mis-
  sion-critical basics as well.
  Power Level
  A shadowy agency protecting humanity from zombie 
  threats has room for everything from plausible 100-point 
  detectives, scientists, and soldiers who untangle conspiracies 
  to 400-pointers – inspired by GURPS Monster Hunters – on 
  the front lines of a secret war.
  They are us.
  – Dr. Logan,  
  in Day of the Dead
  
   
  Zeta forCe 
  28
  Character Types
  From GURPS Monster Hunters, suitable templates are the 
  sage who’s an expert on zombies, the sleuth who tracks them 
  down, the commando and warrior who stomp them, and the 
  techie who provides toys and medical assistance. There’s also 
  room for the witch and psi to manipulate powers of the mind – 
  though the witch won’t be using the Path of Crossroads to visit 
  other planes of existence, Undead for spirits (strictly for zom-
  bies), or Spirit for anything, and the psi can’t possess Spirit 
  Channeling or Spirit Communication, so the GM may have to 
  tweak templates. The experiment fits, too, if the GM decides 
  that Zeta Force exploits the super-soldier tech behind 
  some zombies. However, the crusader is inappropriate 
  (all known supernatural powers flow from the human 
  psyche), and so is the inhuman (this isn’t a “monster 
  mash” featuring vampires, werewolves, and the like). 
  The obvious motivational lens is operative, but law 
  enforcement and soldier also fit.
  Below that power level, the same roles are sliced 
  more finely and distributed among more teammates, 
  likely including a few NPCs. A “realistic” Zeta Force 
  squad has members who specialize in just explosives 
  or sniping (not all combat), just medicine or one sci-
  ence (not all science), just interviews or forensics (not 
  all investigation), and so on. The supernaturally gifted, 
  without the points to be powerhouses, provide theoreti-
  cal knowledge. Crucial areas are:
  Investigators. With sleuth skills like Criminology, 
  Detect Lies, Intelligence Analysis, Interrogation, Obser-
  vation, Research, Search, and Tracking. As discretion 
  is essential, add Camouflage, Shadowing, Stealth, etc. 
  Detectives and scouts may divvy up this role.
  Scientists. Adept at several of Bioengineering, Biol-
  ogy, Chemistry, Diagnosis, Expert Skill (Epidemiology), 
  Forensics, Hazardous Materials, Pharmacy, Physician, 
  Physiology, Surgery, etc. The minimum safe comple-
  ment is a medic and a life scientist.
  Soldiers. Everyone should know how to shoot, but 
  the squad needs operators with the Guns specialties for 
  military weaponry. Incinerating “hot” targets with skills 
  such as Artillery, Explosives, and Gunner is important, 
  and a role in itself. A leader with Leadership and Tactics 
  is always a good addition.
  Specialists. Particular missions call for drivers, 
  mechanics, pilots, surveillance techs, etc., and experts 
  on specific regions, languages, and cultures. These make 
  good NPC extras who can double as backup PCs.
  Weirdoes. Zombie threats call for experts in the obscure. 
  Some study “folk magic” in the form of Esoteric Medicine, 
  Occultism, Ritual Magic, and Thaumatology, and possess lim-
  ited magical abilities. Others are conversant with psi, boasting 
  Electronics Operation (Psychotronics), Expert Skill (Psion-
  ics), and working powers. “Mad scientists” who use Alchemy, 
  Herb Lore, and Weird Science are common. A few have Hid-
  den Lore skills pertinent to Nazi, KGB, or CIA experiments. 
  And yes, these categories blur.
  Too Bad About Agent Smith
  Troubleshooters hunt down trouble that’s infectious, 
  malicious, or both. Each mission brings the risk of death or 
  zombification – and such fates could become routine occur-
  rences at lower power levels. Thus, it’s advisable to ask each 
  player create several characters so that the fun doesn’t dry 
  up when the luck does. Any of the approaches pointed out 
  in Replacements (Zombies, p. 150) should work, but Zeta 
  Force’s squad structure makes group play especially suitable. 
  An interesting variant would be to have the players assem-
  ble an optimized team at the beginning of each assignment 
  by picking one agent apiece, and then adding a few “extras” 
  (initially NPCs) that anyone can play in the event of a PC’s 
  untimely demise.
  Your God Won’t Save You
  The GM decides whether troubleshooters can acquire 
  advantages, skills, and spells for zombie creation and con-
  trol – Zeta Force doesn’t approve, but in-world restrictions 
  fit a conspiratorial campaign better than do meta-game ones. 
  What truly doesn’t exist is proof of the otherworldly. Magic 
  and psi involve neither spirits nor other planes of existence; 
  both channel mental force, the first using visualization aids, 
  the second via internal discipline. If gods exist, they don’t 
  empower True Faith, Power Investiture, Blessed, divine pow-
  ers, or holy spells. Zombies are live people in altered states or 
  dead bodies rife with bizarre infections, psychic energies, or 
  weird science; they aren’t possessed. Painstaking investiga-
  tion has found no evidence of angels, demons, ghosts, vam-
  pires, or werewolves.
  The SS secretly enlisted a group of scientists to create  
  an invincible soldier. It is known that the bodies of soldiers 
  killed in battle were returned to a secret laboratory near 
  Koblenz, where they were used in a variety of scientific 
  experiments.
  – Shock Waves
  
   
  Zeta forCe 
  29
  Required Traits
  Every agent must have at least a point in each of First Aid, 
  Guns (Pistol), Hazardous Materials (Biological), Hidden Lore 
  (Zombies), and NBC Suit – that’s basic Zeta Force training. 
  The GM decides whether the agency counts as a Patron or 
  offers meaningful Rank; if so, the PCs will have such advan-
  tages. A Duty is mandatory either way.
  Appropriate Traits
  In addition to the abilities discussed already, the GM 
  might want to permit a number of specialized traits. Resis-
  tant to Zombification (+3) [5] and (+8) [7] – and Susceptible 
  to Zombification [-2/level] – fit setting 
  assumptions about all zombification 
  exploiting the same weakness. So do 
  the Enhanced Z-Factor and Won’t 
  Rise perks. Other fitting perks are Hot-
  Zone Hero, NBC Suit Experience, and  
  any zombie-related Standard Operat-
  ing Procedure; see Zombies, pp. 31-32.
  The Hidden Lore (Zombies) skill 
  mentioned on p. 35 of Zombies exists 
  and is known to all Zeta Force agents. 
  While mundane technological skills 
  are TL8, the GM may call skills for 
  zombie-making and anti-zombie tech 
  “TL8^” or even “TLz.” These are asso-
  ciated with the Weird Science skill, 
  which PCs may learn. Gadgeteer (Zombies, -50%) might also 
  be available; see Zombies, p. 29.
  Finally, the GM must spell out what forms psionics take 
  (GURPS Psionic Powers, GURPS Psis, and GURPS Psionic 
  Campaigns are useful here) and how magic works (anything 
  from Magery and a few GURPS Magic spells up to GURPS 
  Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic) – and also whether PCs 
  wield or merely know of these things.
  BeIng a team Player
  Zeta Force troubleshooters know about zombies and the 
  magic, psionics, and weird science behind them. They’re 
  unfazed by such things and over the gee-whiz factor, and pri-
  oritize discretion. No agent would willingly reveal these real-
  ities to an outsider. Even if magic can create fireballs and psi 
  is capable of high-speed levitation, operators with such gifts 
  wouldn’t use them around witnesses unless that were the only 
  way save the world. Giving criminals and terrorists dangerous 
  new tools to lust after – tools that could trigger apocalypse – 
  would be a strategic error.
  Which isn’t to say that agents are emotionless paragons. 
  Even high-powered ones are affected by the circumstances of 
  their assignments. Viruses and telepathic mind control are 
  no less worrisome when they’re your job, and hours crawling 
  through an unmapped, unlit bunker littered with skeletons 
  and shattered glassware is hard on the most seasoned sol-
  dier. The knowledge that there are enemies who want to turn 
  humanity into mindless monsters rests lightly on no one. 
  Grim professionalism is the order of the day.
  What gets Zeta Force operators through the darkness is 
  esprit de corps. It’s important to trust and rely on teammates, 
  even if you dislike them. There’s no requirement to be friends, 
  but leaving them for dead or quietly switching off the radio 
  and pretending you didn’t hear their call for help invites harsh 
  discipline – possibly field discipline.
  Still, the setting is conspiratorial, and conspiracy brings 
  betrayal. Ideally, the whole team would decide to run, disobey 
  orders, or switch sides – and that’s fine, though it’s also fine 
  for the GM to make Zeta Force a formidable Enemy. However, 
  the world isn’t ideal and individuals can be coerced. The 
  important thing is for this to make sense in the game world. A 
  PC turning coat after Nemesis offers a medium-sized fortune 
  is one thing; a bored player upsetting the campaign for kicks  
  is quite another, and Not Cool.
  Gear Check
  Agents have access to TL8 hardware from GURPS High-Tech, plus anything 
  the GM likes from GURPS Gun Fu, GURPS Loadouts: Monster Hunters, 
  and GURPS Tactical Shooting. Zombie-Fighting Gear (Zombies, pp. 43-48) 
  is relevant – especially biohazard kit such as decontamination showers and 
  testing equipment for known zombie pathogens. Everyday gear is LC2+, but 
  when a mission demands LC1 solutions, they’re issued. Serious assignments 
  might involve LC0 weapons of mass destruction (zombie plagues qualify, as 
  do tactical nukes for incinerating them), always under the strictest of con-
  trols. There’s also limited superscience: suppressants, vaccines, and antidotes 
  to known forms of zombification, plus anything in GURPS Psi-Tech that has 
  a nice Cold War feel.
  
   
  ultImate ZomBIe-fIgHters 
  30
   The zombie apocalypse has arrived and the world is in 
  chaos. For most survivors, that means holing up and hoping 
  the people you’ve holed up with aren’t hiding a zombie bite 
  . . . because lots of humans in close quarters is Not Okay. In 
  fact, things got really out of control only after the authorities 
  started rounding up everyone to keep them “safe.”
  The naturally immune – the 1% – have other options. The 
  bravest venture out and try to learn what happened, perhaps 
  even find a surviving bio-tech lab that can decode their immu-
  nity and create a cure. Most don’t last a day. Zeds (includ-
  ing Zombie Grandma) are Not Your Friends. They have to 
  be fought. They aren’t tough individually, but you never meet 
  just one . . . and invulnerability to zombification doesn’t help 
  against bites, gouges, and ordinary infection, or for that mat-
  ter thirst, hunger, and exposure.
  Those who do survive are the toughest men and women the 
  world has ever seen.
  day one
  The campaign starts with the PCs – naturally immune and 
  extremely competent – joining forces in the ruins. They know 
  that a global zombie apocalypse has taken out all but a minute 
  percentage (less than 1%) of humanity. They’re aware that this 
  involved a plague, though perhaps not that they’re immune. 
  They have no technical information on the infection’s nature 
  or origins, and only sketchy details 
  regarding the zombies’ exact capabili-
  ties, gleaned from fighting a few before 
  encountering the other heroes.
  The first order of business is intro-
  ductions. The GM might give each player 
  just one or two facts; “I was bitten and 
  didn’t turn!” is a good start, along with 
  observable aspects of the campaign’s 
  basic zombie template (e.g., “drawn to 
  loud noises,” “gather in mobs,” “capa-
  ble of bursts of speed,” or “vulnerable to 
  headshots”). It’s up to them whether they 
  share. Before they can work out much 
  among themselves, zombies attack. And 
  so it begins!
  teotWaWkI
  The world – or what’s left of it – is the modern one, minus 
  several things:
  People. Almost everyone is either a zombie or dead. Most 
  of those who made it to safety – be they immune, prepared, or 
  just lucky – are dug in and not coming out. Some are in survival 
  shelters or barricaded buildings; more are in military-style 
  camps. Holdouts are few and far between, and it’s possible 
  to travel for days without seeing or hearing anyone but a zed. 
  Vast stretches of cityscape and countryside stand utterly still, 
  the silence broken only by wildlife. An aircraft sighting is 
  extremely rare and a big deal, because it means someone has 
  fuel, parts, and a clear area for takeoff and landing.
  CHaPter fIve
  ultImate  
  ZomBIe- 
  fIgHters
  at a glanCe:  
  ultImate ZomBIe-fIgHters
  Genre: Modern Splatter.
  Tech Level: 8 (and dropping . . .).
  Power Level: Born Zombie-Killers (250-400 points).
  Supernatural Powers: None.
  Scope: Zombie Apocalypse!
  Zombies: One infectious type of the GM’s choice, plus mutants and bosses.
  Useful Supplements: GURPS Action series, GURPS Gun Fu, GURPS High-
  Tech, GURPS Martial Arts, and GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys.
  
   
  ultImate ZomBIe-fIgHters 
  31
  Working infrastructure. All but the most high-tech, auto-
  mated generating stations are offline – and where there is 
  electricity, it’s doing little but causing downed lines to spark. 
  People fleeing cities, drivers and pilots becoming zombies, 
  weapons used in desperation (everything from Molotov cock-
  tails to cluster bombs), and so on caused fires and devastation 
  that collapsed the grid. That shut down pumping stations. 
  Telecomm systems are likewise disrupted. What few networks 
  were initially spared are now failing for lack of maintenance. 
  Streets and highways are littered with obstacles: wrecked 
  vehicles, toppled utility poles, ruptured water and gas mains, 
  abandoned police and military barricades, piles of bodies . . .
  Supplies. The initial survivors smashed, grabbed, and 
  hoarded. Law-enforcement and military services comman-
  deered, seized, and rationed. A lot of supplies perished with-
  out electricity for refrigeration . . . or were destroyed by the 
  same fires and explosions that took out infrastructure . . . or 
  were torn apart by locked-in zeds freaking out. What food, 
  medicine, fuel, and so on remain are either controlled by 
  people who don’t want to share or – too often – deep in zom-
  bie territory.
  Information. There are no news broadcasts – except for 
  rare, disturbing squawks on the emergency frequencies – and 
  you can forget about the Internet. Every neighborhood, sub-
  urb, town, and farmstead a traveler comes across is a mystery, 
  as there’s no reliable way to find out what’s going on ahead 
  of time.
  There’s one thing travelers can count on, though: zombies. 
  There’s no way to know how many will show up where. An 
  isolated farm might have hundreds lurking nearby – all that’s 
  left of desperate folk who descended on the place in search of 
  food and safety. Entire cities may be completely zombie-free 
  thanks to early military sweeps, except for pockets of zombi-
  fied survivalists barricaded inside their homes, and subway 
  and sewer tunnels full of zombie homeless. A car-strewn high-
  way could seem utterly abandoned, yet have a zombie army 
  shambling around in the adjacent woods. That refugee camp 
  in the distance may have been contaminated and become a 
  zed-filled hive.
  But there are important exceptions, and then there are 
  the rumors.
  resPIte
  There are places to escape from the zombies. Most of the 
  survivors – including the immune – stay there. Brave heroes in 
  search of the truth merely stop by.
  Safe Houses
  The apocalypse was sudden, but not so sudden that 
  quick-thinking folk couldn’t dig in. Most hiding places are 
  makeshift: buildings with boarded-up entrances, barricaded 
  lengths of service tunnel, repurposed shipping containers, and 
  so on. Some are miniature fortresses – underground shelters, 
  isolated cabins with generators, and the like – built by sur-
  vivalists to withstand disaster (though few preppers planned 
  for zombies). Watercraft offshore often escaped untouched. 
  There are even genuine military supply caches scattered about 
  – sandbagged, camouflaged, and occasionally booby-trapped. 
  Zombie-fighters dub these and similar hideouts “safe houses.”
  Most such sites ere unoccupied. People who weren’t true 
  survivalists felt they would be better off in emergency camps, 
  and moved there if given the opportunity. Those who holed 
  up with inadequate supplies eventually ventured out to for-
  age; the majority never returned. The same happened to those 
  who left to search for loved ones. And military caches weren’t 
  staffed in the first place. An abandoned safe house is a trea-
  sure trove for travelers; while it rarely contains all the necessi-
  ties, it offers at least a few of them, plus shelter for the night.
  The few safe houses that are still occupied are “safe” only in 
  that there are no zeds on the premises. Diminishing supplies, 
  the “me against the world” attitude of preppers, and plain old 
  cabin fever mean bolted doors at best, a gunfight at worst. 
  Zombie-fighters who find such places have to ask themselves 
  whether it’s worth the trouble.
  Camps
  The authorities didn’t know enough about the zombie 
  plague to do an effective job of containing it or dealing with its 
  aftermath. Consequently, nearly all of their aid facilities either 
  fell to infection from within or to zombies or desperate sur-
  vivors from without. Almost none of the “disaster-relief out-
  posts,” “emergency camps,” or “refugee centers” lasted more 
  than a few days. Still, biohazard-savvy organizations (e.g., the 
  WHO) and smart commandants managed to make it work in a 
  tiny percentage of cases. A traveler might come across such a 
  place – or more likely, track it down by following clues.
  Camps are more welcoming than occupied safe houses 
  because “helping people” is their mission. On the other hand, 
  supplies are running low and there is constant fear of infec-
  tion. A stranger would, at a minimum, have to submit to 
  unpleasant medical tests and decontamination – and rumor 
  among travelers is that some camps intern the immune for 
  experimentation. Beyond all that, many survivors are envi-
  ous and resentful of the immune, while administrators are 
  often disinclined to offer much aid to those who can clearly 
  help themselves.
  However, camps have needs that capable, immune people 
  are well-suited to meet: shoring up external fortifications, run-
  ning into the nearest town to scrounge supplies, or fighting off 
  an especially big wave of zeds. Doing such a favor might score 
  a little fuel, ammo, or useful information.
  Report unusual behavior.
  Barricade your homes.
  Avoid all contact with 
  infected individuals.
  Wait for official 
  instructions.
  – CEDA Notice,  
  in Left 4 Dead 2
  
   
  ultImate ZomBIe-fIgHters 
  32
  Enclaves
  Not all camps are operated by the authorities. Survivalist 
  groups, criminal gangs, and impromptu militias have had 
  slightly more success, because they aren’t bound to respect 
  human rights. They aggressively horde supplies – even steal 
  from other survivors – and tend to shoot anything that looks 
  like a zombie or anyone who might be infected. At the heart 
  of things is often a charismatic leader who’s only too happy to 
  play dictator amidst the anarchy. Travelers can try their luck 
  at these places, too . . . but unless they hold their hands high 
  and offer considerably more than they ask for, they’re unlikely 
  to find anything but a fight.
  rumor
  Then there’s what most traveling zombie-fighters are actu-
  ally looking for: usually a cure, occasionally some answers.
  Labs
  Most survivors take heart in the fact that somebody out 
  there is researching a cure. In the U.S.A., the usual suspects 
  are the CDC; some people remember the 2011 campaign to 
  increase disaster preparedness, which focused on a zombie 
  apocalypse, supposedly in jest. Other nations have similar 
  organizations. Worldwide, the WHO and the military are inev-
  itably on the radar, while locally, any university or bio-tech 
  business might be on the short list.
  Thanks to the global communications breakdown and the 
  dangers of travel, reliable details are scarce. If there’s a lab 
  researching a cure, then it’s certainly well-hidden – and doubt-
  less well-guarded against both zombies and raiders. A facility 
  like this might admit visitors whom its scientists can confirm 
  are immune, but whether the researchers would collect sam-
  ples and let their guests go is anybody’s guess. Paranoid trav-
  elers who claim to have located such places warn that nobody 
  who enters ever leaves, whether because the lab can’t risk 
  word of its location getting out or because its staff butcher the 
  immune and dissect their brains. Then again, a lot of people 
  would stay willingly if they felt safe and thought they could 
  help save humanity.
  The fearful rumors never seem to lead to actual labs – sinis-
  ter or otherwise – but the tough, the brave, and the foolhardy 
  keep searching.
  Site Zero
  The other major rumor is that the zombie plague was a 
  bioweapon that got out of control. Blame tends to fall on the 
  groups posited to be developing a cure – especially private 
  bio-tech companies and the military. The facility where 
  things went wrong, Site Zero, is purportedly out there 
  somewhere, with valuable research results and conceivably 
  a ready-made vaccine sitting in a smashed-up lab overrun 
  by zombies. Given that zeds would have appeared there 
  first and were undoubtedly experimented on, any weird 
  mutations would have had a long time to occur, making the 
  zombies particularly scary. And who knows what other Bad 
  Stuff is floating around . . . weaponized Ebola, anyone?
  Havens
  The most bitterly paranoid maintain that people in 
  high places knew damned well the zombie apocalypse 
  was a possibility and maybe even inevitable. A few claim 
  it was deliberate, though the reasons given for why (pop-
  ulation control, rebuilding society with the Right People, 
  etc.) are a little crazy. Among those who believe such tales 
  – and many ordinary folks with vague memories of the 
  Cheyenne Mountain nuclear bunker – it’s often accepted 
  that there must be hidden high-tech shelters, usually under-
  ground, for government officials, generals, top scientists, and 
  the very wealthy.
  The truth is unknown. The biggest reason why the military, 
  WHO, and so on failed to contain the outbreak was that early 
  victims were often asymptomatic, and became biting, infec-
  tious fiends inside camps, shelters, and command centers – 
  behind the lines. Chaos within foiled a cohesive response, and 
  it’s hard to see how impressive titles or high net worth would 
  have granted immunity. Nevertheless, the crazies feel other-
  wise and some go out looking for secret havens, whether to 
  demand entry, get answers, or take revenge.
  Zeds
  As “Ultimate Zombie-Fighters” suggests, zombies exist to 
  give the heroes targets to pummel, behead, shoot, burn, and 
  explode in fine splatter-film tradition. The zeds come right out 
  of apocalyptic fiction – anything from Night of the Living Dead 
  to Zombieland, as the GM prefers – and have nothing to do 
  with traditional beliefs. The PCs are immune and essentially 
  fearless, but inasmuch as fear matters, it’s the fear of zombies 
  as a direct physical threat: they’re diseased cannibals. In such 
  a gore-fest, what social criticism there is picks easy targets: 
  dishonesty among officials and selfishness among survivors.
  Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
  The GM decides what parts of Rumor are true. Perhaps 
  all of it is! This doesn’t change the heroes’ initial motiva-
  tions – what they’re seeking at the start of the campaign 
  is their choice, motivated by hope, not fact. Still, concrete 
  clues should emerge over time, leading to a denouement 
  and an eventual endgame. That means the GM needs to 
  decide on several matters from the outset: whether the 
  zombie plague was a natural disaster, a manmade acci-
  dent, or a deliberate act (and in that case, why); whether 
  there are secret havens for VIPs; whether anyone is work-
  ing on a cure; and if so, whether researchers regard the 
  immune as irrelevant, potential volunteers, or subjects to 
  be detained and experimented on.
  
   
  ultImate ZomBIe-fIgHters 
  33
  tHe gory detaIls
  While technically victims, zombies are too far gone to be 
  anything but monsters now. Still, what kind of monsters is 
  important – know your enemy, and all that.
  The Meat
  The GM might afflict humanity with something that turns 
  people into living zombies or that kills them and brings 
  them back as undead – maybe both! However, all zombies 
  were once ordinary Janes and Joes (so constructs don’t fit), 
  and thus are entities of meat and blood (spirits don’t work, 
  either). Whatever they are, they’re disturbing to behold. A 
  zombie-fighter who meets one shouldn’t hesitate to blow its 
  nasty head off.
  The Motivation
  The zombies are most likely products of infection: bacte-
  rial, viral, or prionic, or just conceivably nanotechnological or 
  memetic. However, it can work for the true cause to be some 
  chemical, radiation, or space dust so prevalent in the envi-
  ronment that the dead – or severely injured living – become 
  zombies. Individual weird-science treatments don’t fit a wide-
  spread apocalypse, though, and supernatural forces simply 
  don’t exist, ruling out those causes.
  Turning Points
  While the PCs are immune, NPCs can certainly turn. The 
  GM chooses one of the models on pp. 124-129 of Zombies 
  – probably biological infection of the living by zombie bite 
  or splatter, with a HT roll to resist and any failure leading to 
  either direct zombification while alive or death followed by 
  undeath. The resistance roll ought to be difficult; if the dead 
  (killed by zombies or not) return, perhaps there’s no roll. 
  Transformation should be quick, with zombification rapidly 
  following infection or death, as the case may be. Conditions 
  like these make it easier for the players to suspend disbelief 
  and accept global catastrophe.
  By tHe numBers
  Some Zombies templates are better than others for 
  a fast-spreading zombie apocalypse, but even these may 
  require adjustment:
  B-Movie Ghoul (Zombies, pp. 90-91). Start here if zed is 
  undead. The plague ghoul is best: those it kills rise at once, 
  while those it injures tend to die of mundane infection and 
  then return. For added fun, swap Fast Reanimation [6] for 
  Dominance (Horde, -80%; No Onset Time, +50%) [14], so 
  that even less-than-fatal attacks can trigger instant undeath. 
  Whatever the ghoul type, recently turned ones have the Fresh 
  lens; They’re Learning and maybe Brains GOOD can keep a 
  long campaign challenging; and of course The Zombies Won.
  Infected (Zombies, p. 97). This is the best model if the zom-
  bies are alive. Again, the GM can tinker with infection speed, 
  perhaps adding Dominance (Horde, -80%; No Onset Time, 
  +50%) [14] if victims turn instantly rather than upon awaken-
  ing. Another suitable variation is no cure to have a Weakness 
  toward, which adds 15 points to template cost. To better chal-
  lenge tough zombie-fighters, tack on Enraged, Fast, or both – 
  and consider Returner, leading to the ghoul options discussed 
  above. Here, too, The Zombies Won.
  Whisperer (Zombies, p. 103). A genuinely creepy alterna-
  tive for living zombies, this would explain why the apoca-
  lypse collapsed society almost overnight and why standard 
  biohazard precautions didn’t help – especially if early  
  specimens somehow spread the meme via mass media. How-
  ever, such zombies aren’t menacing to the immune; they’re all 
  talk and no action. To up the ante, have them turn violent 
  and bitey toward those who don’t submit at first exposure; this 
  adds a -15-point Zombie Motivation.
  Crazy (Zombies, p. 101). This is the “subtle” option for liv-
  ing zombies. The plague spreads like an ordinary disease – and 
  the GM might lengthen the incubation period and increase the 
  HT penalties to infect lots of people before the first madness 
  outbreaks. The zombies won’t be a biting hazard, but that 
  doesn’t matter much if the heroes are immune and the cra-
  zies use weapons! Be sure to add some Unnatural Features to 
  mark them out.
  To keep things interesting for the players, the zombies 
  should change (“mutate”) over time – say, developing Infravi-
  sion or exhibiting emergent abilities like those in Brains of 
  the Mob (Zombies, p. 88) . They needn’t end up all the same! 
  There might be robust strains with additional ST, HT, and HP, 
  and perhaps some natural DR; stalkers with extra DX, Per, 
  Basic Speed, or Basic Move, and traits such as Discriminatory 
  Smell and Monstrous Movement (Zombies, pp. 87-88); and a 
  wide range of bizarre others with unlikely offensive capabili-
  ties (Aberrant Attacks, Zombies, pp. 86-87).
  Just as important are bosses (Zombies, pp. 104-107). All 
  but the Summoner fit – and even that might work, if the GM 
  figures out some way to square conjured zombies with the set-
  ting’s lack of supernatural powers.
  
   
  ultImate ZomBIe-fIgHters 
  34
  fIgHt ZomBIes,  
  take BaCk tHe World
  An Ultimate Zombie-Fighters campaign is extremely 
  straightforward: The heroes are the toughest survivors of 
  this or any apocalypse, battling their way through thousands 
  of zombies per adventure! The challenge is to keep this 
  engaging for any length of time.
  setuP
  Almost all the preparations this campaign needs concern 
  the zombie-fighting angle: keeping it fun for the players, mak-
  ing sure their characters are up to the challenge, and having 
  the tools on hand to run battles smoothly.
  Starting Conditions
  Zombie-fighters should start with at least 250 points. 
  GURPS Action templates work – particularly combat-capable 
  ones like the assassin, big guy, demolition man, fast guy, ninja, 
  shooter, and weapon master – as does the hardened survivor 
  template with the BZK and combat monster lenses (Zombies, 
  pp. 39-40). If the PCs are to battle thousands of zombies at 
  a time, the GM might prefer to start at 300-400 points, per-
  haps tacking the BZK and combat monster lenses onto Action 
  heroes, or letting players build from the ground up. In the 
  last case, it’s crucial to provide character-creation guidelines: 
  cinematic traits are fine (notably Enhanced Defenses, Extra 
  Attack, Gunslinger, Trained by a Master, and Weapon Master), 
  but stats should stay within human limits (see pp. B14-18) and 
  nobody can have exotic or supernatural abilities.
  Whatever the PCs’ power level or other abilities, Immunity 
  to Zombie Plague [5] is mandatory. It’s a campaign premise!
  Also spell out what hardware zombie-fighters can enter 
  play with. The game will remain challenging and interesting 
  for longer if the heroes don’t start with much, but must punch 
  and kick their way to baseball bats and handguns, whack and 
  plink their way to katanas and shotguns, and slash and blast 
  their way to military hardware . . . which only ever has limited 
  ammo. Similarly, while the PCs are immune to zombification, 
  they shouldn’t be invulnerable to physical harm, so it’s best to 
  keep body armor minimal or to use house rules that keep it 
  from lasting forever (“number of attacks equal to current DR 
  reduce DR by 1” is simple).
  Homework
  The three most important pieces of prep remaining are:
  1. Design some initial mutant and boss zombie templates 
  for key battles.
  2. Create encounter tables that lead to generic battles 
  (Zombies, p. 143).
  3. Lay in lots of figures if planning to use The Cloud 
  (Zombies, pp. 114-115).
  Plotting and mapping far in advance isn’t that important. 
  It’s fine to leave deciding what will show up to the start of 
  each night’s gaming. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to sketch out a 
  rough arc that features, say, one major event per session – a 
  chance to upgrade gear, an encounter with other survivors, a 
  run-in with a new zombie type, evidence of a lab, etc. – and 
  to steer this toward some kind of grand reveal (e.g., Site Zero, 
  or a haven where people who know the truth are preparing 
  to nuke the world).
  rules
  The focus is on fighting lots of zombies that can’t infect 
  the PCs, so the game will run most smoothly if the GM is 
  conversant with Wounding Modifiers and Zombies (Zombies, 
  p. 110) and uses the time-savers presented in Faster Fights 
  (Zombies, p. 110-114), Zombie Toughness (Zombies, p. 111), 
  Horde Action (Zombies, pp. 114-117), and Hordes and Large-
  Area Attacks (Zombies, p. 116).
  The heroes should pay attention to Knowledge and 
  Equipment (Zombies, pp. 118-119) – and especially Weapons 
  (Zombies, pp. 43-45) and Survival Gear (Zombies, pp. 47-48). 
  They might want to employ the tactics in Staying Out of 
  Reach (Zombies, pp. 120-122), too, unless they’re extraordi-
  narily tough.
  My mama always told me someday I’d be good  
  at something. Who’d a guessed that something’d be 
  zombie-killing?
  – Tallahassee, in Zombieland
  
   
  ultImate ZomBIe-fIgHters 
  35
  mood and PaCIng
  Ultimate Zombie-Fighters is an action serial about heroes 
  fighting their way across town and country on a never-ending 
  quest for answers. Each game session should have a strong 
  start: the PCs round the corner and encounter a horde, their 
  vehicle runs out of gas or blows a tire in zombie territory, 
  they hear gunfire in the distance, they witness a plane zoom 
  overhead and crash, they enter an area where the trees 
  are dead and the air smells of blood, and so on. “Day 217: 
  Nothing happens” might be more realistic, but this isn’t a 
  realistic campaign!
  Once the zombie-fighters react, the GM must bear in mind 
  that the fight is the thing. Every session has to offer new tacti-
  cal challenges to keep the campaign fresh. Battlefields should 
  vary, from dark buildings, through city streets and car-strewn 
  highways, to open wilderness. Add diversity with the occa-
  sional extraordinary set piece – be that a close encounter 
  below decks on a ship or being swarmed while negotiating a 
  minefield around an abandoned Army camp. The opposition 
  ought to be variable, too, ranging from a few stray zombies 
  to huge hordes, with new mutations and bosses turning up 
  unexpectedly. Each situation should demand different weap-
  ons and tactics.
  Still, the fight can’t be the only thing or the campaign 
  will grow repetitive. Weave a “quest” into each adventure 
  as a context for the fighting. Examples include the heroes 
  battling their way into a police station or an armory to 
  grab better weapons, doing a favor for a camp in return for 
  resources, rescuing less-capable survivors, coming to blows 
  with brutal raiders or paranoid preppers, investigating a 
  mysterious radio signal, finding out where that plane went 
  down, or (if they meet someone who’s working on a cure) 
  gathering specimens.
  To knit the adventures into a campaign, at least some 
  scenarios should offer clues regarding the overall situa-
  tion. That radio signal or plane might hint at a cure effort. 
  Evacuation routes could be marked with promising signs, 
  while deserted outposts and vehicles yield maps annotated 
  with intriguing symbols. Rescued survivors might relate 
  tales of labs, havens, or bioweapons facilities. These things 
  pull the adventurers from quest to quest and help to explain 
  why they’re battling zombies on that abandoned oil tanker 
  anchored offshore (“Rumors say there’s a lab on board, and 
  we did hear noises.”).
  Finally, each episode – whether that’s one game night or 
  a multi-session adventure – needs a clear ending. Concluding 
  with action is always good; that quest to get guns from the 
  armory might terminate in a run for an escape vehicle (which 
  inevitably breaks down in time for the next episode). But not 
  always! Something like the search for a lab works better if it 
  pauses on a worrisome cliffhanger.
  tougH Calls
  The heroes are immune, so the GM will never face situ-
  ations like Infected! (Zombies, p. 151) or questions about 
  zombie PCs. As they lack magical powers and mad-science 
  resources, the question of creating zombies isn’t likely to arise, 
  either. It’s best to state this outright: “No special snowflakes 
  who aren’t immune or who make zombies.”
  The GM also has to make clear that while no practical bar-
  rier to Betrayal! (Zombies, p. 145) exists, such behavior doesn’t 
  suit the campaign. Likewise, although the heroes aren’t likely 
  to lose battles – they should benefit from every bit of slack 
  that cinematic supplements like GURPS Action, GURPS Gun 
  Fu, and GURPS Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys cuts them – 
  they might engage in willing Sacrifice (Zombies, p. 121) for 
  each other or hapless NPCs. This makes it important to set 
  clear guidelines for replacement PCs: they can be no better 
  equipped or informed than the rest of the group is currently.
  On a meta-game level, some players might prefer greater 
  realism and object to the glorification of kung fu-using, 
  machine gun-toting action heroes while sensibly prepared 
  survivalists are depicted as paranoid. That’s best handled by 
  knowing your gamers ahead of time. A group that isn’t into 
  Action, Gun Fu, and the crazier parts of GURPS Martial Arts 
  should pick a different campaign.
  ZomBIe-fIgHters
  Zombie-fighters are larger-than-life survivors. Nobody 
  they meet is as capable as they are, as able to discover what 
  happened, or as likely to find the people working on the cure 
  (if anybody is!) and help save humanity. The meta-game 
  reality is that the players should have fun defeating zombies 
  – but in the game world, their characters are big-H Heroes, 
  and everything they do ought to be altruistic, or at least  
  not selfish.
  CHaraCter CreatIon
  All PCs should be combat-capable residents of modern-day 
  (TL8) Earth. Each needs a clear niche: the karate master, the 
  explosives guy, the scary woman with a katana, the Special 
  Forces sniper, and so on. Thus, the GM might want to encour-
  age freeform design and use templates only for inspiration – or 
  at least allow templates from a wide variety of sources, includ-
  ing GURPS Action, GURPS Martial Arts, and Zombies.
  Rules to Avoid
  The heroes are immune, so the GM can ignore the 
  mechanics of biohazards, splatter, hacking off infected 
  body parts, and so on, beyond thinking about how such 
  concerns vex unfortunate NPCs. The zombie-fighters 
  are also hardened, so Fright Checks are rarely suit-
  able. The research tasks described in A Better Tomorrow 
  (Zombies, pp. 129-133) – and, if scarier rumors are 
  true, Zombification (Zombies, pp. 133-136) – matter to 
  geeks in hidden sanctuaries, but not to the PCs. Finally, 
  rules for supernatural effects like curses and turning the 
  undead have no place in this campaign.
  
   
  ultImate ZomBIe-fIgHters 
  36
  Power Level
  The GM will set this at between 250 and 400 points.
  Character Types
  All zombie-fighters need some melee-combat and small-
  arms skills, but each should also specialize in a particular kind 
  of violence. This breaks down into three broad areas:
  Hand-to-hand fighters, be they barehanded or armed, and 
  whether they rely on over-the-top abilities like Trained by a 
  Master and Weapon Master or just massive amounts of ST, 
  HT, and HP. If there’s more than one person like this, these 
  differences can give each hero a distinct role. A ST 20 jock 
  with a baseball bat is very different from a two-time Olympic 
  taekwondo champ. Such warriors help the group survive close 
  combat without exhausting their limited ammo.
  Light-weapons experts, who use small arms with high Guns 
  (Pistol, Shotgun, SMG, or Rifle) skills, Gunslinger, and the 
  crazier stuff in GURPS Gun Fu. Again, significant diversity 
  is possible; the two-pistol trick shooter, best cop in the world 
  with a shotgun, and elite sniper are nothing alike. These war-
  riors handle the bulk of the fighting before it gets too close. 
  They use up ammo, but their amazing abilities allow one-shot, 
  one-kill efficiency.
  Heavy-weapons specialists, who favor Guns specialties such 
  as Grenade Launcher and Light Machine Gun, Gunner skills 
  of all sorts, Explosives (Demolition), Throwing for hand gre-
  nades, and possibly even Artillery specialties. The group needs 
  only one or two such people. They can turn an impossible bat-
  tle with thousands of zeds into a winnable one with hundreds 
  . . . at the cost of hard-to-come-by ordnance.
  Required Traits
  The only strictly mandatory trait is Immunity to Zombie 
  Plague [5]. However, the GM may want to enforce Quirky 
  Good Luck (GURPS Action 1: Heroes, p. 8) and require 15 
  points in Daredevil, Luck, or Serendipity as well.
  Appropriate Traits
  Everything in Survival Traits (Zombies, p. 27) fits, along 
  with whatever cinematic advantages the GM allows – partic-
  ularly Gunslinger, Trained by a Master, and Weapon Master. 
  While immunity and the absence of supernatural powers mean 
  that most perks from pp. 31-32 of Zombies aren’t 
  applicable, Good with Zombies, Horde-Walker, and 
  Tastes Bad are all fun. And despite their impressive 
  “plot armor,” the heroes do live in the apocalypse, 
  so the group needs members with First Aid, Forced 
  Entry, Navigation, Scrounging, Survival, Urban 
  Survival, repair skills (Armoury, Mechanic, and so 
  on), and vehicle skills.
  BeIng larger  
  tHan lIfe –  
  and deatH!
  Zombie-fighters are defined by their immunity 
  – and by their suitability to venture into the zed-in-
  fested world to save humankind before the remain-
  ing survivors become flesh-eating fiends. They have 
  to be brave and willing to take swift, decisive action. 
  They’re acutely aware that the clock is ticking – every 
  day brings humanity closer to extinction – so there’s 
  no time for overcautious hoarding, planning, and 
  taking the scenic route. With enough guts, kung fu, 
  and explosions, no problem is too big!
  Thus, the vibe is that of an action movie or – at 
  its ickiest – a splatter story. Zombies are an affront 
  to humanity, not an unfortunate, redeemable part 
  of it. Dispatching them does everybody a favor. A 
  stinging quip is the only eulogy a zed can expect. 
  Remorse isn’t an option.
  Ultimate Zombie-Fighters is also a survival tale, 
  though. People need to be saved and supplies can 
  run out. Human enemies – be they scummy raid-
  ers, fanatical survivalists, or calculating scientists 
  capturing the immune for sinister experiments 
  – present serious moral challenges. Perpetrating 
  axe-swinging, dynamite-chucking mayhem against 
  those who are already lost is one thing. Survivors 
  need to live, even the ones you don’t like.
  Let’s Join Forces!
  Although 250- to 400-point heroes who can’t become zom-
  bies are unlikely to perish – especially when they enjoy the “plot 
  armor” of cinematic rules – luck does run out. When that happens 
  during the apocalypse, people die. Given the campaign’s larger-
  than-life feel, it’s acceptable for replacements to just happen to 
  fill niches that need filling. The only restriction is that they cannot 
  advance the plot merely by showing up. If the GM hasn’t intro-
  duced heavy military weapons or Site Zero yet, a new PC can’t 
  stroll onto the scene with a rucksack full of rockets or a back-
  ground as a zombie researcher.
  Gritty Unrealism
  Though the heroes of an Ultimate Zombie-Fighters cam-
  paign aren’t realistic, they cannot have exotic or supernatural 
  gifts such as super-powers or magic spells. Abilities that would 
  let them create or command zombies, even quasi-scientific apti-
  tudes such as Gadgeteer (Zombies), are also off-limits. Finally, 
  with civilization in ruins, there isn’t any point to social traits like 
  Wealth and Status.
  Gear Check
  Anything that exists at TL8 is out there, somewhere, waiting 
  to be claimed. There isn’t enough of society left to force people 
  to pay, much less to enforce Legality Class and Control Rating! 
  Passive measures like locks, vault doors, and thick walls remain, 
  though – and as Starting Conditions (p. 34) recommends, it’s more 
  dramatic if zombie-fighters have to work their way up to heavy 
  weapons. The GM determines the details, but initial loadouts 
  might consist of a fixed value ($4,000 is good) of portable kit, 
  including survival equipment (canteens, MREs, clothing, tents, 
  first-aid kits, etc.) and whatever qualifies as “light civilian com-
  bat gear” – probably melee weapons, and perhaps handguns and 
  limited ammo.
  
   
  alPHa and omega 
  37
  Superhuman powers – what’s not to like? Years of comic 
  books, television, and films gave ordinary Janes and Joes 
  dreams. Some wanted to slip into colorful outfits and use 
  super-strength and energy blasts to defeat bad guys. More 
  than a few secretly desired abilities that would make them 
  wealthy or powerful, or just let them become the ultimate voy-
  eur. Fans of the dark and gritty weren’t into capes, masks, and 
  the binary morality of Heroes and Villains, but loved the idea 
  of championing some edgy cause and looking 
  cool while doing it (preferably in black leather).
  There was nothing to like about how it 
  actually happened, though. The real “super 
  serum” empowered microbes instead of peo-
  ple. It’s unclear whether the formula mutated 
  pathogens in the test subjects or turned their 
  immune systems into germ-warfare factories 
  – or whether the program involved volunteers 
  who returned to civilian life or captives who 
  were ultimately cremated, spewing virus parti-
  cles into the air. “Alpha Project” was a secret, 
  funded by a military or intelligence budget 
  and burned when the plug was pulled. The end 
  result wasn’t superheroes from the comics but 
  a zombie plague from the horror movies.
  Some of the original scientists stepped up 
  to fix the damage. On their own dime, they analyzed the out-
  break and realized they couldn’t cure (the victims were dead) 
  but could immunize. Immunity had amazing side effects: 
  strength, speed, . . . super-powers. But the immune looked 
  just like zombies. And working off the record on something 
  that black-bag spooks wanted covered up – with test subjects 
  who resembled the walking dead – proved unhealthy for the 
  researchers, who were silenced with extreme prejudice before 
  they could explain themselves.
  All that remains is the so-called “Omega Team”: the 
  enhanced humans who survived the strike. They’ve vowed to 
  finish the job of dragging the world back from the brink of 
  apocalypse. Of course, that isn’t easy when you don’t officially 
  exist and every soldier, cop, and frightened citizen with a gun 
  sees you as a monster.
  day one
  Omega Team is well aware of the grim state of global 
  affairs – they’re the only living associates of the people who 
  caused and later tried to stop the zombie apocalypse. They 
  might enter play emerging from the ruins of the facility where 
  they were altered, which was just leveled by an airstrike. They 
  may have to fight their way past the armed covert operators 
  sent to secure the place. For a real challenge, they 
  could awaken in a high-tech prison – moments 
  from being dissected – and have to break out.
  The PCs aren’t aware of their abilities, beyond 
  immunity to the zombie plague. The players 
  should be, but it’s fun to game out bullets bounc-
  ing off bare skin or punching a zombie’s head off 
  for the first time! The heroes definitely don’t know 
  they resemble the walking dead. The GM can keep 
  that a secret until the first time somebody walks 
  past a mirror or meets another test subject.
  Then the heroes must decide how to save the 
  world, which will depend on its exact state and 
  their particular gifts. Read on . . .
  CHaPter sIx
  alPHa  
  and omega
  at a glanCe:  
  alPHa and omega
  Genre: Dark Supers.
  Tech Level: 8 (with background superscience).
  Power Level: Zombies, What Zombies? (500+ points).
  Supernatural Powers: Superhuman, yes, but not magic or psi.
  Scope: Widespread Outbreak (the world on the brink of apocalypse).
  Zombies: Slow, infectious undead with occasional mutations.
  Useful Supplements: GURPS Powers and GURPS Supers.
  It contains a recombinant virus. 
  It takes your DNA and deconstructs 
  it and reshapes it. The results can be 
  phenomenal, superhuman like . . .  
  or hellish.
  – Jerry, in Day of the Dead 2: 
  Contagium
  
   
  alPHa and omega 
  38
  a World In need of savIng
  As in most zombie-apocalypse stories, the world is ours but 
  overrun by the walking dead. The GM can choose almost any 
  model, from raging chaos in the streets and people battling 
  for scant resources to empty streets and survivors huddled 
  together in defensible shelters. Pick a favorite zombie movie, 
  video game, or comic book and steal liberally.
  Unlike many of the other campaigns in Day One, the 
  focus isn’t on scheming enemies (such as necromancers or 
  mad scientists), sinister places (hidden labs, dark towers, 
  etc.), or elusive MacGuffins (e.g., the cure). Neither is there 
  an overarching mystery to solve – the heroes start know-
  ing what happened. Instead, Omega Team plays the classic 
  role of superheroes: helping people, fighting bad guys, and 
  making the world a better place. The twist? The opposition 
  consists of zombies . . . and ordinary survivors can’t tell the 
  supers who want to help them from the monsters who want 
  to eat them.
  Still, there are a few “stock” situations.
  BesIeged CommunItIes
  Plenty of places are cut off from aid efforts and the rest 
  of the world’s survivors, and running low on almost every-
  thing. Without adequate fuel or transportation, escape 
  isn’t an option – and with so many zombies around, even 
  groups with the means to run might be unwilling to risk 
  it. Dangers include hordes of riled-up walking dead on the 
  verge of breaking through whatever obstacles are holding 
  them at bay, ordinary folks freaking out at the sight of 
  zombies (and the heroes, at first!), and lots of people fac-
  ing the dangers of thirst, exposure, hunger, and mundane 
  disease. While these complications are unlikely to harm 
  the super-tough Omega Team, they’ll pose serious social, 
  logistical, and strategic challenges.
  The physical situation could range from a few trapped 
  people (whether barricaded on the top floor of an urban sky-
  scraper or holed up on a farm), through a mid-sized band 
  of survivors (living in anything from an isolated trailer 
  park to a military base), to a whole town or even city. The 
  barriers keeping the walking dead out and the living from 
  fleeing might be natural (like a steep canyon or a swift river) 
  or manmade (up to and including a minefield). And safety 
  may lie across the zombie-clogged street or several hundred 
  miles of wilderness.
  danger Zones
  Even survivors in relatively safe places can be low on essen-
  tials: food, medicine, fuel, batteries, building materials, and so 
  on. Plenty was left behind when they fled – but now that terri-
  tory belongs to the zombies. Going back would be suicidal for 
  most people. The mighty Omega Team, on the other hand, can 
  just punch their way in and out again.
  Or maybe it isn’t that easy.
  One zombie isn’t a threat, but hordes are something else. 
  Then there’s the fact that the goods the heroes need to fetch 
  might be locked up or under rubble . . . or specialized enough 
  that there’s no choice but to bring along, and protect, an 
  ordinary human expert who can identify what’s needed . . . 
  or guarded by well-armed survivors who don’t want to share. 
  Even supers have to worry about heavy weapons!
  This sort of situation will almost always involve an urban 
  setting – anything from a small town to a metropolis. The 
  place may be in ruins, many areas inaccessible without cre-
  ative thinking or special abilities. And if the search for what’s 
  needed takes too long, enough zombies might gather to put 
  a fragile objective at risk or a weakened structure in danger 
  of collapse.
  dIsaster areas
  Zombies might not even be in the picture – not directly. 
  Plenty of modern technology depends on regular mainte-
  nance, including power plants, gas mains, refineries, and fac-
  tories. Without that attention, most systems fail safe. But not 
  all. And then dams burst, cities go up in flames, poison gas 
  is released, and meltdowns happen. Secondary disasters may 
  prove to be the deadliest aspect of the apocalypse.
  
   
  alPHa and omega 
  39
  In their journeys, Omega Team could come across wildfires 
  laying waste to hundreds of square miles, brimming reservoirs 
  about to rupture and drown survivor communities, barren 
  wastelands contaminated with all manner of hazardous run-
  off, and so on. Saving the world includes acting before this 
  stuff harms people and – depending on the saviors’ outlook 
  – the environment. They may be the only ones who can reach 
  the last operational rescue vehicle or shutoff valve, or perhaps 
  things are well past that stage and their super-powers will 
  have to do.
  neW settlements
  After enough good deeds, Omega Team will come to be tol-
  erated if not accepted, and will save enough people and places 
  that it becomes feasible to claw back territory from the walk-
  ing dead. This can be the most challenging task of all, how-
  ever! There’s no way to be sure that all the zombies are gone, 
  so the supers will have to defend the survivors, sometimes in 
  close quarters. It’s one thing toss a car at a distant horde when 
  no friendlies are in the way; it’s another for a few supers to 
  prevent dozens, hundreds, or thousands of zombies from get-
  ting to within biting distance of their mundane allies.
  Adventures in rebuilding might happen in former settle-
  ments or on virgin land. Each has its challenges. Existing 
  buildings and infrastructure can be cleaned up quickly but 
  can also conceal more threats. In the wilderness, it’s often eas-
  ier to see the walking dead coming, but breaking new ground 
  takes a long time even with super-assistance, and the noise is 
  liable to attract a mega-horde.
  tHe WalkIng dead
  Ordinary survivors will fear zombies – and initially the 
  heroes – as both monsters and their own possible fate; see 
  Fear of Zombies and Fear of Becoming a Zombie (Zombies, 
  p. 7). Though the tough, immune Omega Team won’t share 
  these fears, they’ll be on the receiving end! Thus, instead of 
  taking the forms on pp. 9-10 of Zombies, social criticism will 
  be a commentary on skin-deep morality and “racial purity” – 
  because even the most liberal and tolerant individual is going 
  to think twice before trusting somebody who looks like one of 
  the monsters that destroyed the world. The real zombies are 
  too far gone ever to be seen as anything but targets, so they 
  effectively fill the role of fodder (Zombies, p. 11), even 
  if technically “unfortunate.”
  tHe gory detaIls
  Zombies are dead people reanimated by a super-
  science virus. They are so distorted and rotten that 
  it’s impossible to identify them beyond height, weight, 
  and (former) sex without forensic tech and records 
  that are by-and-large unavailable in the apocalypse.
  The Meat
  Physically, zombies are undead and deformed – the virus 
  that creates them kills the host and rapidly transforms the 
  corpse into an unrecognizable ambulatory germ factory. The 
  GM should pick some B-movie visuals: green flesh falling off 
  the bones, bugged-out red eyes, exposed jawbones and chat-
  tering teeth, and so forth. Even newly animated ones have the 
  Rotting Corpse meta-trait (Zombies, p. 69). Omega Team fits 
  the same description, of course.
  The Motivation
  The dead are walking because of a virus – a clear case of 
  Infection (Zombies, p. 21). What’s unknown to everyone but 
  the heroes is that this extinction-level pathogen is an unin-
  tended consequence of a serum (Zombies, p. 23) developed by 
  The Corporation (Zombies, p. 23) and administered to a small 
  number of test subjects. Related research explains Omega 
  Team’s immunity and abilities.
  Turning Points
  Zombification starts when a living person is infected by 
  a zombie attack, dies of either injuries or the disease, and is 
  reanimated as undead. People merely wounded by a zombie 
  can fight off this infection, but it remains dormant and can 
  turn them if they die of other causes later. Still, the plague is 
  a pathogen and Resistant to Disease does affect dice rolls for 
  it. As victims die before becoming undead, however, nobody 
  comes back from being a zombie – you can’t cure death. The 
  heroes are immune, so all this is largely irrelevant to them.
  By tHe numBers
  The walking dead use the stats under Plague Ghoul 
  (Zombies, pp. 90-91) with the The Zombies Won [30] lens and 
  some modifications:
  Brains: Modify the IQ penalty with Mitigator, Horde, -60% 
  [24]. Lots of zombies are always more dangerous than just one.
  Contagion: Replace Fast Reanimation (Zombies, p. 52) [6] 
  with this slightly faster version: Dominance (Horde, -80%; No 
  Onset Time, +50%) [14]. After a fight with zombies, victims 
  must roll 3d vs. HP of injury; adjust injury downward by any 
  Resistant to Disease bonus. A roll under this target means that 
  over the next (HT - 10) minutes, the victim joins the walk-
  ing dead unless the injured body parts are removed; see If 
  Thine Eye Offends Thee (Zombies, p. 128). As usual for plague 
  ghouls, anybody killed by zombies transforms in a second or 
  two, and those who die of other causes after being exposed 
  rise as zombies (HT - 10) minutes later.
  God didn’t do this. We did!
  – Robert Neville,  
  in I Am Legend
  
   
  alPHa and omega 
  40
  Mutatis Mutandis: The walking dead are attracted by loud 
  noises and the scent of the living: Acute Hearing 4 [8] and Dis-
  criminatory Smell [15]. Given their Uncontrollable Appetite 
  for live flesh, if they make a Hearing or Smell roll (average of 
  14 in both cases, and up to 16 in a horde), odds are excellent 
  that they’ll shamble over for lunch.
  Zombie Bosses (Zombies, pp. 104-107) are unlikely. How-
  ever, rare specimens have minor versions of the gifts suitable 
  for Omega Team (see pp. 41-42). Sometimes these aren’t so 
  minor! Such monsters possess no extraordinary ability to con-
  trol, lead, or summon other zombies, but they’re tougher in a 
  fight and often called “bosses.”
  The resulting template(s) can be applied to anybody – HT 
  affects how fast someone turns, but injury determines whether 
  they turn, so there’s no special bias toward or away from 
  healthier victims.
  savIng tHe World
  This campaign is about superheroic deeds. The zombies 
  aren’t really the centerpiece – they’re present to give the Omega 
  Team fodder to battle, to create dangerous situations that let 
  the heroes save the day, and as part of the superscience back-
  ground that explains the existence of superheroes. The PCs’ 
  ultimate goal is to gain acceptance through their deeds and 
  make the world safe again.
  setuP
  The bulk of the GM’s workload resides in defining the PCs’ 
  capabilities, though there are a few bits of necessary prepara-
  tion that aren’t entirely about the heroes.
  Starting Conditions
  Omega Team members should be worth at least 500 points 
  – more, if the GM is up to the challenge. See Omega Team 
  (pp. 41-42) for suitable abilities. The heroes have Immunity 
  to Zombie Plague [5] and know it, as well as how they ended 
  up that way. Their material preparedness, by contrast, is mini-
  mal; they’ll be escaping the rubble of the laboratory where they 
  were undergoing voluntary experiments or the prison where 
  were subject to involuntary ones, and have only what gear they 
  grab off anyone standing between them and freedom. Thus, 
  it’s crucial to be very clear on what that equipment is.
  Homework
  If the GM intends to map out combat using one of the sys-
  tems on pp. 114-117 of Zombies, the most important thing 
  to have on hand is lots of figures to represent the zombies. 
  Beyond that, it would be useful to have a quick set of tables for 
  rolling up walking dead that possess additional super-abilities.
  rules
  The rules of greatest importance here appear under 
  Horde Action (Zombies, pp. 114-117) and Unnatural Causes 
  (Zombies, p. 111): plague ghouls attack in hordes and go down 
  relatively easily. While they’re Unliving, they also take quadru-
  ple injury from headshots, which should be easy for supers. As 
  Wounding Modifiers and Zombies (Zombies, p. 110) shows, if 
  the heroes can’t hit the head, the crushing damage of super-
  strong fists is more effective than the piercing damage of guns!
  Moving away from zombies, members of Omega Team 
  will want to use their superior physical capabilities cre-
  atively. Mobility (Zombies, pp. 121-122) is likely to be espe-
  cially important.
  mood and PaCIng
  This is a supers campaign – if a gritty one – which means 
  the GM has to ensure that each adventure features opportuni-
  ties to showcase the heroes’ super-abilities and, more import-
  ant, to be heroic as well as powerful. Thus, its storytelling 
  challenges differ from those of traditional modern-day zom-
  bie apocalypse games, where the players’ planning outweighs 
  their characters’ innate capabilities, and in which betrayal 
  (Zombies, p. 145), involuntary sacrifices (Zombies, p. 121), 
  and other cowardly acts are expected. Omega Team doesn’t 
  have to worry about survival, given its members’ toughness, 
  and the GM needs to help the group grasp this and rise above 
  petty self-interest. The short-term reward is the thrill of taking 
  down lots of zombies; the long-term one, nothing less than 
  the satisfaction of saving the world (or at least lots and lots of 
  ordinary folks).
  To this end, each game session should see 
  Omega Team stumble upon one or more situations 
  similar to the ones under A World in Need of Saving 
  (pp. 38-39). The stakes – the number of lives to be 
  saved or lost – ought to be explicit. And while the 
  setting is gritty, that doesn’t mean hopeless; the 
  problems the GM presents need to be solvable, 
  though the solution may require the creative use 
  of the entire team’s abilities. At the end, the peo-
  ple who benefit from these actions should come to 
  overlook the supers’ frightening appearance . . . the 
  goal is to make the job challenging, not thankless.
  It’s also important to change things up, because 
  grinding through hordes of zombies, while fun  
  at first, gets boring if it’s all that ever happens. 
  Rules to Avoid
  The rules surrounding contagion won’t matter to Omega Team 
  (though the GM ought to bear them in mind for NPCs who have to 
  be kept safe). Likewise, mighty supers shouldn’t worry about Fright 
  Checks. And since the only zombies in this setting are Unfazeable 
  and not supernatural, it won’t be possible to turn or intimidate 
  them, either. Finally, as the zombie plague is defined as an incur-
  able consequence of lost research, simply ignore the systems for 
  curing and creating zombies.
  
   
  alPHa and omega 
  41
  Some of the zombies should be almost as powerful as the 
  heroes – perhaps more powerful – but still mindless, which 
  is the key to defeating them. Not all of the living will want 
  the supers’ help; a few might even actively oppose any effort 
  to “re-civilize” the world, because they enjoy being local dic-
  tators, boasting a monopoly of force, and dominating fellow 
  survivors through fear. At least some threats should be imper-
  sonal disasters that can’t be defeated in a battle; e.g., a collaps-
  ing bridge to a safe haven.
  tougH Calls
  As noted already, this is not a survival-horror story from 
  Omega Team’s perspective, so matters such as hiding fester-
  ing zombie bites, throwing slower associates to the horde, 
  and deciding whether to hack off limbs shouldn’t arise. That 
  can be difficult to sell to zombie fans, so the GM must take 
  every opportunity to send an important message: “You really 
  are that resilient. Get on with being heroes!” To answer some 
  other questions:
  Can I play a zombie? The heroes are a special kind of zom-
  bie. The regular kind are mindless, and unsuitable as PCs.
  Can I play a super-gadgeteer who can raise or cure zombies? 
  No. The necessary knowledge and technology were deliber-
  ately blown to bits. All supers in the setting are “mutants” of 
  sorts, so gadgeteers don’t fit – and anyway, the original zom-
  bie-makers did their work with far more resources than the 
  PCs have . . . and essentially failed.
  Can I replace my super? This is the trickiest question of all. 
  The heroes should be tough enough not to need replacing. If 
  that proves untrue, see Are There More Like Me? (below).
  omega team
  “Omega Team” isn’t a formal organization but merely a 
  whimsical name given to the successful test subjects of the 
  immunity serum by the people who developed it . . . right 
  before those researchers were wiped out to keep the secret 
  that a previous serum, bought and paid for by the govern-
  ment, caused the apocalypse. Members of Omega Team enjoy 
  not only immunity but also “super-powers” in the form of 
  astounding durability, speed, strength, and more.
  CHaraCter CreatIon
  Omega Team members were formerly ordinary citizens of 
  modern (TL8) society. The scientists who altered them put out 
  a call for volunteers to help find a cure after it became clear 
  that the zombie apocalypse was coming (a fatal error – their 
  request led the authorities to their doorstep). They picked test 
  subjects entirely on the basis of genetic markers. The result-
  ing cohort came from all age groups and walks 
  of life. Thus, Omega Team has no definitive 
  training or skill set.
  Power Level
  The minimum recommended start is 500 
  points, but anything up to the high end of what 
  GURPS Supers terms “moderate power” – 1,600 
  points – could work. At higher power levels, the 
  GM may want to set limits on how many points 
  can go into any one trait.
  Character Types
  As Omega Team members came from the 
  general population and experienced almost ran-
  dom mutations, there’s no “recipe” for an ideal squad. Each 
  hero ought to be able to survive alone – that’s part of what all 
  the points are for! However, the campaign is about saving the 
  world, not merely surviving in it. That takes diverse abilities 
  used creatively and in concert; thus, the players should discuss 
  among themselves who can do what, with the aim of comple-
  menting rather than duplicating one another.
  Required Traits
  Every PC has the following meta-trait:
  Omega Team: Appearance (Monstrous; Universal, +25%) 
  [-25]; Horde-Walker [1]; Immunity to Zombie Plague [5]; 
  Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+3) [10]; Reduced Consump-
  tion 4 (Cast-Iron Stomach, -50%) [4]; and Temperature Tol-
  erance 5 [5]. Notes: You are immune to becoming a zombie 
  but look like one – even the walking dead think you’re one of 
  them – and are remarkably tolerant to heat, cold, and disease 
  and poison (+3 to resist, +7 vs. the food-borne kind). 0 points.
  The GM should make the meta-trait mandatory but keep all 
  components besides the Immunity a secret initially. Appear-
  ance will become obvious first! Heroes who purchase higher 
  levels of constituent traits should be told that they’ll get a dis-
  count, however; e.g., Doesn’t Eat or Drink costs 6 points, not 
  10, because it upgrades Reduced Consumption.
  Appropriate Traits
  The heroes’ super-abilities consist of superhuman amounts 
  of mundane traits mixed with truly exotic capabilities that can 
  be explained as “mutations” (compare Unknown to Science, 
  p. 42). Below are many examples. For those that come in lev-
  els, the GM may wish to set a maximum.
  Are There More Like Me?
  Being immune and extremely tough, it’s unlikely that Omega Team 
  members will die – especially since, despite its grittiness, the cam-
  paign is a superheroic one where “death” is customarily temporary 
  (perhaps literally so, for some PCs!). Still, noble self-sacrifice can hap-
  pen, and so can bad dice rolls. As supers are clearly possible, perhaps 
  one time in a million, a zombie bite turns someone into a super-tough 
  “boss” that isn’t mindless undead – or maybe some other group of 
  researchers managed a one-off success. Such origin stories should be 
  unique, developed in private consultation with the affected player.
  
   
  alPHa and omega 
  42
  • Attributes and secondary characteristics above the 
  human norm.
  • Mundane advantages and perks – particularly Absolute 
  Direction, Acute Senses, Combat Reflexes, Danger Sense, Fit, 
  Hard to Kill, Hard to Subdue, High Pain Threshold, Luck, 
  Night Vision, Perfect Balance, Rapid Healing, and Unfazeable.
  • Close-range natural weaponry: Acidic Blood*, Acidic 
  Vomit†, Blinding Spray*, Claws, Deadly Skin*, Deadly 
  Spines*, Irritating Spines*, Plague Bite†, Poison Spit*, Spines, 
  Stinging Skin*, Striker, Teeth, Vampiric Bite, Venom* (Weak, 
  Average, Strong, or Paralytic), and anything similar the GM is 
  willing to approve.
  • Exotic advantages giving extreme strength: Arm 
  ST, Lifting ST, Striking ST, and (in high-powered games) 
  Super-Strength‡.
  • Exotic advantages granting inhuman speed: Altered 
  Time Rate, Enhanced Dodge, Enhanced Move, Enhanced 
  Time Sense, and Extra Attack.
  • Exotic advantages reflecting unusual heal-
  ing or body-control capabilities, notably Doesn’t 
  Breathe, Doesn’t Eat or Drink, Doesn’t Sleep, 
  Metabolism Control, Recovery, Regeneration, 
  and Regrowth.
  • Exotic advantages representing durability 
  or resistance: Damage Resistance, Injury Toler-
  ance (Damage Reduction* or Unliving), Pres-
  sure Support, Radiation Tolerance, Resistant, 
  Supernatural Durability, Temperature Toler-
  ance, Unkillable 1, and Vacuum Support. Extra 
  Life, while borderline-supernatural, also fits.
  • Exotic mobility or sensory abilities found 
  among real-world creatures, subject to GM 
  approval. Examples are Amphibious, Brachia-
  tor, Catfall, Chameleon, Clinging, Discrimina-
  tory Smell, Infravision, Nictitating Membrane, 
  Parabolic Hearing, Silence, Slippery, Sonar, 
  Super Climbing, Super Jump, Telescopic Vision, 
  Terrain Adaptation, and Vibration Sense.
  • Exotic perks such as Burrower§, Fur, 
  Good with Zombies†, Long Fingers/Thumbs§, 
  Pestilent†, Rinse§, Scales§, Striking Surface§, 
  and Tastes Bad†.
  * From GURPS Powers.
  † From Zombies.
  ‡ From GURPS Supers.
  § From GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks.
  BeIng a Hero
  Omega Team is humanity’s last, best hope. Obviously, 
  they can’t protect every single survivor (though hopefully 
  other Omega Teams in faraway places are doing their best, 
  too!), but the idea is to try. Players who want to use their 
  characters’ powers for personal gain – setting themselves up 
  as local dictators – are missing the point. There are already 
  people doing that, and they’re gun-waving opportunists; that 
  is, NPC bad guys.
  The PCs should be capital-H Heroes, using their amazing 
  gifts for good just as comic-book supers do. The differences 
  emerge in the dangers: The criminals they fight are the oppor-
  tunistic would-be tyrants mentioned earlier, not bank robbers. 
  The “super-villains” are zombie hordes, not masked bad guys. 
  The disasters from which they rescue people 
  have a breakdown-of-civilization flavor – the 
  dam is going to burst because the control 
  room is full of zombies, not because Doktor 
  Destruktion blasted it, and radiation from the 
  out-of-control nuclear plant will sicken peo-
  ple, not produce giant ants.
  Well, most of the differences are in the 
  dangers.
  The other twist is that the supers don’t 
  look like models in snappy outfits, or rugged 
  soldiers in military chic, or even edgy punks, 
  Goths, and metal-heads in mesh, chains, and 
  tight leather. They resemble rotting zombies. 
  The players need to remember this and make 
  sure their plans factor in the necessary social engineering to 
  earn the acceptance of those they wish to save. Of course, they 
  can also use their appearance to freak out their enemies!
  Gear Check
  Omega Team doesn’t start with much of anything. They’ll be climb-
  ing out of rubble or escaping a containment facility, clad in hospital 
  gowns at most. As the campaign progresses, they can grab whatever 
  they find – all of it ordinary stuff from the real (TL8) world. They’re 
  welcome to use guns, body armor, vehicles, and so on, depending on 
  their abilities; a bulletproof man who can run at 60 mph may prefer to 
  travel light, while a former accountant without military training ought 
  to think twice about shooting that grenade launcher near friends.
  unknoWn to sCIenCe
  Although this is a supers campaign, it isn’t a four-color one with 
  energy blasts, psi, and kitchen-sink abilities ranging from gadgeteer-
  ing to black magic. Several classes of things don’t fit:
  • Rapid bodily transformations like Growth, Healing, Shapeshift-
  ing, Shrinking, and Stretching.
  • Energy projection, especially Obscure (except possibly for squid-
  like ink), Scanning Sense (other than Sonar), Telecommunication 
  (any), Temperature Control, and long-ranged or high-powered appli-
  cations of Affliction, Binding, or Innate Attack.
  • Gifts customarily defined as magical (particularly Magery, 
  Magic Resistance, Mana Damper, and Mana Enhancer), psionic 
  (Clairsentience, Mind Control, Mind Probe, Mind Reading, Posses-
  sion, Precognition, Psychometry, Telekinesis, and so on), or other-
  wise supernatural (e.g., Blessed, Channeling, Medium, Oracle, Power 
  Investiture, Spirit Empathy, Terror, and True Faith).
  • Anything else that the GM feels defies not merely biology but the 
  very laws of physics, particularly Dark Vision, Flight, Insubstantiality, 
  Invisibility, Jumper, Penetrating Vision, Permeation, Shadow Form, 
  Snatcher, Walk on Air, Walk on Liquid, and Warp.
  • Advantages that reflect cinematic training, such as Gadgeteer, 
  Gunslinger, Trained by a Master, and Weapon Master.
  • Superscience tech and super-gadgets.
  
   
  tIme of tHe ZomBIes 
  43
  Big stuff like giant meteors, nuclear war, and global warm-
  ing dominated humanity’s fears, but something microscopic – 
  in this case a prion – was its undoing. Consensus is that it had 
  been slowly but steadily infecting everything with a brain but 
  doing nothing. Then a freak solar event somehow altered or 
  triggered it. While most creatures weren’t obviously affected, 
  humans got crazy and started raging.
  Just about everyone was infected before the symptoms 
  appeared, so containment was a nonstarter. Drugs proved 
  worthless – nobody understood prions well enough. Soon the 
  world was a burning mess of crazies murdering one another. 
  These “zombies” were so savage – and the natural immunity 
  or radiation shielding required to avoid joining them, so rare 
  – that by the time the slaughter ended, we were well below the 
  population level needed to sustain a technological base.
  Not that there was much tech left to sustain. The solar 
  event also scrambled digital storage and electronics; only the 
  rare few devices sitting in fallout shelters or deep mines were 
  safe. Power grids were fried, too. Almost all the labor-saving 
  devices that could’ve let a few do the work of many were wiped 
  out, and it wasn’t as if people who could fix them were selec-
  tively spared.
  We were kicked back to the 
  Dark Ages.
  Still, some people did survive, 
  find each other, and start to rebuild. 
  But the going has been slow – and 
  not just because nearly everything 
  was trashed, crashed, or burned. 
  The activated prion is still out there 
  and highly infectious. Some of the 
  original infected went dormant 
  and are waiting in the ruins. And 
  although animals didn’t go nuts, 
  they did get smarter and scarier. 
  These dangers make searching for scraps of useful tech or 
  simply hunting for food a risky proposition . . .
  day one
  The PCs are youths born into a bleak world. They’re too 
  young to remember a planet made smaller and less myste-
  rious by cell phones, the Internet, jet planes, and other tech 
  that relies on high-maintenance infrastructure, though they’ve 
  heard stories about these things and would recognize the 
  trappings. They might have seen a working motorcycle, car, 
  or gun. But they’re aware of the dangers out there – both real 
  (zombies, “changed” animals, and warlike rival communities) 
  and rumored (mutants).
  As “seekers” selected by their community to venture forth 
  and bring back anything useful, from food to tech to infor-
  mation, it’s their job to brave the threats lurking beyond their 
  settlement. Their story starts with their people wishing them 
  well on their mission to collect whatever they can find. They’ve 
  honed their skills on runs with older, more-experienced seek-
  ers, but this time they’re on their own!
  treasures and terrors
  The world is now two generations removed from a com-
  plete technological and social meltdown. Seekers venturing 
  out into it are looking for several kinds of things, each with 
  its own hazards. They’re also hoping to avoid places that hold 
  nothing but danger.
  ruIns
  In former towns, farms, industrial parks, military bases, 
  and so on, many brick, stone, and concrete structures are 
  crumbling, while most wooden ones have rotted or collapsed. 
  CHaPter seven
  tIme of  
  tHe ZomBIes
  at a glanCe: tIme of tHe ZomBIes
  Genre: Post-Apocalypse.
  Tech Level: 0-4 (with isolated 5-8).
  Power Level: Hardened Survivors (100-200 points).
  Supernatural Powers: None.
  Scope: (Post-) Global Apocalypse.
  Zombies: Many types of infected, including mutants and animals.
  Useful Supplements: GURPS Low-Tech and GURPS High-Tech, and possibly 
  GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventures for mapping advice.
  
   
  tIme of tHe ZomBIes 
  44
  Roads are cracked and overgrown. Anything that can corrode, 
  has – though metals other than iron often survive, as does any-
  thing chromed or galvanized. Pipes have long since clogged 
  and burst, and even the most autonomous machines stopped 
  running years ago. Anywhere there’s a crack, plants and ani-
  mals have pushed in, accelerating the decay.
  Still, ruins provide shelter for useful artifacts – especially 
  those packaged in plastic or foil, sealed in tight jars, or locked 
  away in vaults. The largest and most robust structures some-
  times stand mostly intact, concealing untold treasures. Under-
  ground construction is often surprisingly unharmed. These 
  sorts of sites are the primary goals of seekers.
  The major perils of such places are threefold:
  • Zombies that should have starved and turned to dust 
  years ago occasionally remain dormant somehow. Some 
  spring into action if they so much as smell or hear prey. 
  Others awaken only if jostled or accidentally rehydrated by 
  letting water in. Once set off, they’re no less dangerous than 
  they were in your grandparents’ time.
  • Rival seekers from crazy towns (below) are after the 
  same loot and rarely friendly. Expect a fight.
  • The ruins themselves are a hazard. Creaky buildings col-
  lapse, tunnels cave in. In a world without antibiotics and ster-
  ile dressings, even broken glass can be lethal.
  WIlderness WealtH
  Just as important is the wilderness, which thrives without 
  billions of humans to beat it down and pollute it. Vegetation 
  has reclaimed formerly cleared areas. Land kept dry by dikes, 
  dams, or pumps is once again under swamp, lake, or sea. 
  Beasts have returned to their old homes. A good source of 
  food, lumber, or ore is as valuable as anything found in the 
  ruins, but often more dangerous:
  • The animals have changed, becoming more intelligent 
  or aggressive, and sometimes carrying the zombie prion for 
  good measure.
  • Rival seekers can be found here, too, stalking the same 
  herds and cutting the same forests. Again, expect a fight.
  • Natural hazards – from twisting an ankle on rocks to fall-
  ing into a ravine – are far more serious when you’re relying on 
  TL4 medicine (at best) to get better.
  CraZy toWns
  “Crazy town” is a popular term for a settlement with dif-
  ferent values from one’s own. Simple tribalism and greed are 
  often all it takes, but things can be more complex. Maybe 
  your people are collectivists and your rivals are individualists, 
  or you’re rebuilders while they’re nihilists who’ve accepted 
  humanity’s downfall, or they’re religious in a way that involves 
  killing heathens or sacrificing for good weather. Perhaps they 
  are crazy – the prion occasionally seems to turn victims into 
  cannibals but not zombies. Then there are rational minds 
  given to reckless schemes like clapping zombies in irons and 
  using them to turn mills and pumps.
  Most seekers avoid crazy towns. There’s no way for a small 
  team to prevail against an entire hostile community – although 
  the bravest (or craziest) sometimes steal from such places. The 
  location of dangerous rivals is valuable information, however, 
  and seekers who bring it are occasionally conscripted into 
  raids on such settlements.
  vaults
  In addition to supplies that must be scrounged from ruins 
  or the wilderness at great personal risk, or taken from rivals 
  by stealth or force, there are hidden caches deliberately stock-
  piled against the possibility of disaster and just waiting to be 
  claimed. These range from fallout shelters dating to early TL7, 
  through TL7-8 missile silos, to the rare mature TL8 facility 
  hastily assembled as the world went mad. These are collec-
  tively known as “vaults” because they’re solidly built, locked, 
  and full of loot.
  Vaults are difficult to find, fiendishly hard to crack with-
  out high explosives or heavy machinery, and likely to bring 
  rivals from every crazy town for miles around if word gets 
  out. And word will get out if seekers hammer on doors, cart 
  out mountains of supplies, or fetch their community to come 
  live there. Dormant zombies are another possibility – not 
  every vault was sealed properly or in time. Scarier threats 
  are high-tech defenses ranging from massive bulkheads that 
  drop, trapping people forever, to automated weaponry with 
  hardened power supplies.
  Not every vault is unclaimed, either. A crazy town with 
  access to a vault – or in one – is a force to be reckoned with. 
  Tales abound of survivors sealed inside shielded vaults, with 
  access to limitless nuclear power, water filtration and hydro-
  ponic facilities, vast stockpiles of ammunition, and little inter-
  est in sharing. Seekers who pick a fight won’t stand a chance. 
  Those with a gift for diplomacy might fare better.
  forBIdden Zones
  As should be obvious by now, the end of the world was 
  chaotic. The prion turned some humans into zombies and oth-
  ers into cannibals, and rendered animals smarter and scarier. 
  There are rumors that the solar event that activated it created 
  mutants, too. Surviving science isn’t up to providing details, 
  but empirical evidence is that vast swaths of the planet are 
  overrun by things best avoided. Seekers steer clear of these 
  “forbidden zones” except when the prize within or beyond is 
  so rich that the risk is worth taking.
  tHe InfeCted
  The only true “zombies” here are living, infectious cannibals 
  similar to those found in modern horror fiction like Resident 
  Evil and 28 Days Later. They’re feared as a physical danger and 
  as a fate, bundling fears of disease and cannibalism into one 
  untidy package and standing as reminders of Earth’s polluted, 
  exploited state before the apocalypse. Most are nameless tar-
  gets, all records of their identity long gone . . . but if your 
  friends turn, things get more personal.
  
   
  tIme of tHe ZomBIes 
  45
  The setting holds other threats, too – see Everything Else 
  (above).
  tHe gory detaIls
  Zombies are humans whose brains are irreversibly warped 
  by a sci-fi prion. They can’t be cured, but they can be killed 
  and won’t come back from the dead.
  The Meat
  Zombies are living beings that look just like ordinary peo-
  ple. Their savage behavior immediately marks them out as 
  infected, however.
  The Motivation
  The zombies of the apocalypse were created when a silent, 
  slow-spreading prion was transformed by a burst of strange 
  radiation from the sun. This genesis combines elements of the 
  classic infection and “space dust” origins in a way that could 
  been seen as a riff on mutation; see Zombies, pp. 21-22. The 
  activated prion is much faster-acting and a clear-cut example 
  of straightforward infection.
  Turning Points
  The original cohort of zombies and all later generations 
  have the same infectious bite. If zombification occurs, it’s 
  during the victim’s next sleep; the prion rewires the sleeping 
  brain. The odds of this happening increase with bite sever-
  ity, with more and deeper bites delivering a larger pathogen 
  load. Keeping the subject awake merely delays the process, 
  but chopping off bitten body parts before he sleeps will pre-
  vent the prion from reaching his brain. Needless to say, it’s a 
  gamble either way! Once someone turns, there’s no way to get 
  him back – not with the knowhow and resources remaining 
  after the apocalypse.
  By tHe numBers
  The Infected (Zombies, pp. 97-98) affords a good starting 
  point: the zombies bite and eat people, they shriek and swarm 
  upon sighting prey, and their bite transforms the victim in his 
  sleep on a roll of 3d against HP of biting injury, modified for 
  Resistant to Disease. However, many changes are needed, too: 
  the infected lack the Plague Bite advantage and rely solely on 
  biting injury; they can last a long time if they don’t starve, and 
  “hibernate” when food is scarce, so they replace Terminally Ill 
  with Extended Lifespan and Metabolism Control; all changes 
  are internal, so Unnatural Features doesn’t apply; there’s no 
  cure and thus no Weakness; and 
  the Enraged, Fast, and The Zom-
  bies Won lenses apply. To save 
  time, use the following replace-
  ment template, which could be 
  applied to anyone.
  Infected
  ‑60 points
  Attribute Modifiers: ST-1 [-10]; DX+1 [20]; IQ-2 [-40]; HT-1 
  [-10].
  Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Basic Speed+1.00 [20].
  Advantages: Acute Hearing 2 [4]; Enhanced Move 0.5 
  (Ground) [10]; Extended Lifespan 2 [4]; Hard to Kill 3 [6]; 
  Hard to Subdue 3 [6]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Indomita-
  ble [15]; Metabolism Control 10 (Hibernation, -60%) [20]; 
  Striking ST 6 [30]; Unfazeable [15].
  Perks: Penetrating Voice [1].
  Disadvantages: Bad Smell [-10]; Bad Temper (9) [-15]; Ber-
  serk (Vicious, +0%) (9) [-15]; Cannot Learn [-30]; Disturb-
  ing Voice [-10]; Inhuman (Zombies, p. 70) [-45]; Restricted 
  Diet (Human Flesh) [-20]; Social Stigma (Monster) [-15].
  Quirks: Glimpses of Clarity [-1].
  Features: Affected as Living; Infectious; Sterile.
  everytHIng else
  Zombies are the primary monsters of the post-apoca-
  lyptic world but not the only ones or necessarily the scar-
  iest ones.
  Cannibals
  People who eat infected brains (human or animal) 
  are affected differently from those who have the prion 
  injected into their bloodstream. The universal symptom is 
  Odious Personal Habit (Eats Humans) [-15], which often 
  manifests alongside other mental traits from the infected 
  template (below) – especially Bad Temper, Berserk, Bes-
  tial, and Low Empathy. Food-sharing has created “tribes” 
  of such cannibals.
  Changed Animals
  Animals infected by the prion become dangerously 
  cunning and fearless. A given specimen might have an 
  IQ one or even two levels above racial average – which 
  also increases Will and Per – and may lack any of Bestial, 
  Cannot Learn, or Hidebound its species normally has. 
  It can also gain Indomitable or any level of Fearlessness 
  (up to Unfazeable). This is especially scary in predators, 
  which learn to identify human traps and weapons, and 
  sometimes develop disturbingly high Tactics skills.
  Some beasts acquire the Infectious feature – becom-
  ing carriers of the prion – instead or as well. There’s no 
  way to detect this. Fortunately for hunters, cooking kills 
  the pathogen.
  Mutants
  There are persistent rumors that a few animals and 
  humans were mutated by the solar radiation that acti-
  vated the prion, and that their descendents now walk the 
  Earth with strange physical changes ranging from fea-
  tures, perks, and minor upgrades (e.g., furry humans and 
  unusually deadly rattlesnakes) to implausible advantages 
  (e.g., gilled and venomous humans). Only the GM knows 
  the truth!
  
   
  tIme of tHe ZomBIes 
  46
  tales set In tHe ruIns
  A campaign set in the time of the zombies tells the story 
  of a rugged band of seekers who journey ever farther afield 
  in search of resources and knowledge their community can 
  use to survive, thrive, and perhaps slowly rebuild civilization. 
  Each run is longer and more dangerous than the last, but the 
  rewards make the isolation and peril worth braving. Their 
  ultimate goal might be clearing their lands of zombies and 
  hostile rivals, finding a legendary vault to raid or call home, or 
  even advancing the nominal TL – perhaps all of these things.
  setuP
  This is a game of low-tech (on average, TL4) exploration, 
  combat, and looting set in a post-apocalyptic future rather 
  than a fantasy world. Much of the GM’s pre-game thinking 
  will concern the seekers’ abilities and technology – both their 
  baseline and how quickly they improve.
  Starting Conditions
  The 150-point hardened survivor template (Zombies, 
  pp. 39-40) is ideal for seekers capable of working without 
  supervision. The GM might give out another 50 points if the 
  PCs are the supervisors, or trim the template back to 100 
  points if they’re in training. As zombie plague and ordinary 
  sickness pose serious threats, the GM owes it to the players to 
  point out that Resistant to Disease helps against both. Alter-
  natively, make Resistant to Disease (+3) [3] or even (+8) [5] a 
  campaign advantage – that which didn’t kill humanity made 
  the survivors stronger.
  The question of starting technology is as important as that 
  of character points. Gear Check (p. 48) outlines the economic 
  model, but that isn’t the entire picture. The GM has to decide 
  what equipment is available to starting characters, perhaps 
  capping it at TL4-7 instead of TL8, and forbidding unlikely 
  items of any TL (e.g., while rapiers are TL4, they’re suited 
  to urban gentlemen, not post-apocalyptic explor-
  ers). It’s also crucial to enforce Logistics (Zombies, 
  p. 152) for both low-tech arrows and bandages and 
  high-tech bullets and batteries. The quest for more 
  and better resources is what drives seekers, after all!
  This doesn’t limit the heroes’ skills, however. 
  Grandparents survive from the TL8 era, as do 
  books. Seekers can start with technological skills 
  ranging from TL0 to TL8, unless they have the Low 
  TL disadvantage. That isn’t suitable as a personal 
  trait, however – settlements can be limited to TL0-7 
  knowhow, giving everyone in them one level of Low 
  TL per TL below TL8, but individuals grow up with 
  their community’s TL. The GM is welcome to set 
  this below TL8, of course.
  Homework
  Beyond decisions on seeker power, gear, and knowledge, 
  the GM has two big chunks of preparation to do. First, it’s 
  important to map out the wilderness, dot it with landmarks 
  (ruins, crazy towns, vaults, forbidden zones, etc.), and decide 
  what’s out there, waiting to be found. The GM may find the 
  guidelines in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness 
  Adventures helpful, replacing supernatural hazards with 
  high-tech ones (e.g., minefields and radiation), and limiting 
  monsters to zombies, animals, and mutants. In a campaign of 
  exploration, these details shouldn’t be left vague.
  Second, the monsters themselves require thought. Zombies 
  are a given. Everything Else (p. 45) outlines other options in 
  general terms, but the game will run more smoothly if the GM 
  has at least a couple of specific bad guys on tap – including 
  ordinary human enemies with skills and equipment similar 
  to the seekers’.
  rules
  Seekers gearing up for their job should follow the advice in 
  Zombie-Fighting Gear (Zombies, pp. 43-48), with an emphasis 
  on good armor, melee weapons (those never run out of ammo), 
  and survival gear. To avoid unnecessary fighting – a drain on 
  resources – use Staying Out of Reach (Zombies, pp. 120-122).
  Combat will happen, though, and then many special rules 
  from Chapter 4 of Zombies are worth using. Familiarity 
  with Biting 101 (Zombies, pp. 108-109), Zombie Toughness 
  (Zombies, p. 111), and Know Your Zombies! (Zombies, 
  pp. 111-112) can speed things up. The same tips are easily 
  adapted to cannibals, animals, and mutants, too.
  Once the battle is over, Cleaning Wounds (Zombies, p. 120) 
  is somewhat effective – washing with soap or anything stron-
  ger gives a flat -1 to effective HP inflicted when rolling for 
  infection. Hacking off injured body parts definitely works; see 
  If Thine Eye Offends Thee (Zombies, p. 128).
  Not every important rule is in Zombies. This campaign 
  needs the grittiness of Fright Checks (pp. B360-361), Bleeding 
  (p. B420), and Illness (pp. B442-444). Seekers might have reg-
  ular brushes with Starvation (p. B426) and Cold (p. B430), too. 
  And the limits of low-tech medicine are also important; see 
  Recovery (pp. B423-425).
  mood and PaCIng
  It would be fair to treat this campaign as a gonzo 
  post-apocalypse tale on its surface – full of violence, 
  mutants, and belligerent nomads sporting spiky hair  
  and spikier armor, albeit with (more) zombies – and to  
  pull inspiration from such fiction, movies especially. 
  Rules to Avoid
  These zombies are sick humans who can transmit their illness 
  only by biting, so there’s no need to read up on wounding mod-
  ifiers for the unliving, mechanics for splatter and biohazards, or 
  defenses besides armor. They form small “hunting parties,” mak-
  ing horde rules largely unimportant as well. As they’re Indomitable 
  and Unfazeable, forget about guile and intimidation, too. Anything 
  tied to curing or creating new types of zombies is also irrelevant; 
  that possibility died with the rest of the TL8 world. And supernat-
  ural concerns – curses, necromancy, turning, etc. – are right out.
  
   
  tIme of tHe ZomBIes 
  47
  Encounters might alternate between tough guys who can be 
  tricked or bargained with, zombies and cannibals who can’t 
  be, and static hazards that just are. Smart animals offer a wild-
  card that could occupy any of these niches: some may respond 
  well to food or even gestures, while others are implacable and 
  a few are impersonal forces of nature (“10,000 head of mutant 
  cattle stand between us and that vault!”). The GM must bear a 
  few things in mind throughout, however.
  First is the return on investment for the seekers: What 
  resources do they stand to gain (a little meat, a cache of TL8 
  first-aid supplies, knowledge of entirely new ruins, a vault . . .) 
  and what do they have to spend to claim these (easily replaced 
  arrows or precious high-tech bullets, a few HP of blood loss 
  or a few friends lost to infection)? The trade needn’t be fair, 
  but there should be some chance of a payoff if the players are 
  canny – most of the time, anyway.
  Second, the campaign is one of exploration. All the fighting 
  and sacrifices are in aid of discovery. Discovery isn’t always a 
  positive thing – that vault might secure temporary vaccines, 
  developed in a last-ditch effort to save humanity . . . or seal 
  in dormant mutant zombies (especially if the vaccine failed  
  or the researchers used test subjects). Mixed blessings are fine, 
  too. Challenges shouldn’t be pointless, though.
  Finally, while the feel is closer to “The Road Warrior with 
  zombies” than a realistic look at post-apocalyptic survival, 
  rebuilding society should seem like an attainable goal or the 
  game will descend into nihilism as the players grow bored and 
  the seekers either give up or become selfish brutes. Each game 
  session needs to give the heroes chances to show off not just 
  their combat and survival skills, but also their compassion and 
  altruism. Each successful adventure ought to nudge human-
  kind back toward civilization, if only by a hair.
  tougH Calls
  Hard times call for hard decisions. In particular:
  Must all starting group members come from the same set-
  tlement? Probably. The world is unkind to loners and the 
  GM who wants to encourage exploration is advised to forbid 
  well-traveled visitors. If the GM doesn’t mind the extra work of 
  defining a large known region, however, the “great unknown” 
  might start farther out, permitting seekers from multiple com-
  munities. Nobody can hail from a vault or a forbidden zone, 
  though – not without Amnesia (p. B123), anyway!
  Do I have to play an ordinary human? Playing a zombie is 
  right out – the infected are berserk, inhuman monsters who 
  eat people and never get better. Nobody can start as one, and 
  those who turn become NPCs that other seekers have little 
  choice but to put down. Cannibals are no more fitting out-
  side of novelty campaigns about crazy towns. Mutants are 
  fine, though the GM who allows them adds “make lists of 
  permitted mutant abilities” to campaign prep. The same goes 
  for changed animals – a smart or even talking beast wouldn’t 
  be disruptive but would create the need for a minimum IQ 
  requirement and suitable creature templates.
  Can I replace my seeker? Yes. While the world is depopu-
  lated, any community large enough to send people on explo-
  ration missions can spare another pair of hands, and any 
  settlement discovered by seekers might hold a few brave or 
  foolish recruits.
  seekers
  Seekers aren’t necessarily more able than homebodies, 
  overall, but they’re optimized for exploration and facing the 
  dangers of the unknown, not for the challenges of building 
  and sustaining a community. Thus, they’re more likely to 
  be inquisitive, self-reliant types than cautious conservatives. 
  People back home may regard them as reckless, and secretly 
  be happy not to have them underfoot.
  CHaraCter CreatIon
  Seekers are nominally TL8 individuals (unless the GM 
  sets a lower community TL) in an economy that’s effec-
  tively TL4, with access to TL0-8 knowledge but largely 
  TL0-4 gear – making TL0-4 skills most useful. They’re also 
  rugged survivors and able combatants.
  Power Level
  The GM will set this at between 100 and 200 points.
  Character Types
  Everybody should be capable of combat and overland 
  travel, but a few archetypes are essential:
  Fighters improve ST, DX, HT, HP, and Basic Speed; favor 
  advantages like Combat Reflexes and High Pain Threshold; 
  and focus on combat skills, both melee and ranged, low-tech 
  and high-tech (e.g., Axe/Mace, Bow, and Guns). Knowledge of 
  Camouflage and Tactics is advisable, and First Aid and even 
  Surgery generally fall to such seekers as well. A fighter’s job is 
  to keep the team alive in the face of zombies, beasts, canni-
  bals, and hostile nomads.
  Replacing Losses
  Seekers will fall to zombie bites, mundane disease, 
  injuries untreatable with low-tech medicine, and altruis-
  tic sacrifices. The players should make an effort to iden-
  tify with their characters but also be prepared to lose 
  them – and when that happens, a replacement is fine. 
  Such an individual might come from any non-cannibal, 
  non-zombie group encountered so far; e.g., if mutants are 
  discovered in play, a new seeker could be a mutant even 
  if a starting one could not be. The only restrictions are 
  that the newcomer cannot have a background that would 
  short-circuit the adventure (typically by providing a spe-
  cialty of a skill like Area Knowledge or Current Affairs, 
  even at default) or possess technology the GM hasn’t 
  introduced yet.
  
   
  tIme of tHe ZomBIes 
  48
  Scouts want high Per and Basic Move; advantages in the 
  vein of Absolute Direction, Acute Senses, Danger Sense, and 
  Outdoorsman; and skills like Area Knowledge, Cartography, 
  Navigation, Observation, Survival, and Tracking. A ranged 
  combat skill – preferably a fairly silent one, such as Bow – is 
  also smart. Scouts blaze and map trails, keep 
  the group warm and fed, and spy on the enemy. 
  In a large party, these might be distinct niches.
  Scroungers need superior IQ and Per, and 
  possibly equipment-related Talents such as 
  Artificer. Scrounging skill is essential, but they 
  should also be adept at repair (using Armoury, 
  Electronics Repair, and Mechanic) and operat-
  ing some of what they fix (Guns, Driving, Elec-
  tronics Operation, and so on). Forced Entry, 
  Lockpicking, and even Explosives are valuable 
  for getting at stuff. Scroungers perform the 
  key tasks of looking for valuables and making 
  found technology useable.
  The hardened survivor template (Zombies, 
  pp. 39-40) can accommodate all three charac-
  ter types but is best treated as loose guidelines. 
  A fighter needs more points in combat skills, a 
  scout may choose to treat Tracking as a primary 
  skill, and a scrounger will invest more heavily in 
  technological skills. To make each PC stand out, it’s also fun to 
  add trademark knowledge and gear; e.g., maybe the big fighter 
  wields a medieval-looking morningstar with the Flail skill and 
  has Guns (Shotgun) and two shells, the scout learned Piloting 
  (Glider) from an old manual, and the scrounger uses home-
  made black powder with Explosives/TL4.
  Required Traits
  Beyond the archetype abilities suggested above, 
  nothing is absolutely mandatory. As noted in Starting 
  Conditions (p. 46), however, Resistant to Disease (+3) 
  [3] or (+8) [5] may be a campaign advantage, while 
  seekers from a primitive settlement might start with 
  Low TL. The GM may also require everyone to know 
  Climbing, Hiking, and Stealth so that nobody drags 
  down the rest of the group.
  Appropriate Traits
  Just about everything in Survival Traits (Zombies, 
  p. 27) is a good bet. The GM might also allow the basic 
  version of Gadgeteer to enable seekers to rig gear from 
  scrounged items. Appropriate perks from Zombies, 
  pp. 31-32 are Enhanced Z-Factor, Rule of 15, SOP (On 
  Alert), and Tastes Bad. Some people are Susceptible 
  to the prion (-1 point per level), but that falls into the 
  realm of “dramatic flaws,” not “good ideas.”
  Technological skills require extra planning. Seekers 
  should balance TL0-4 skills that work with commonly 
  available equipment against TL5-8 skills for rare high-
  tech artifacts. Think of the former as staple foods, the 
  latter as spice. Pay attention to Tech-Level Modifiers 
  (p. B168) and remember that TL5+ skills need TL5+ 
  gear; e.g., for anything beyond bandaging, a TL4 first-
  aid kit turns First Aid/TL8 into First Aid/TL4 at -7, and 
  the IQ-4 default would probably be better.
  doIng your BIt
  Players should do their best to portray the heroes as valu-
  able members of their home settlement. They’re explorers first 
  – and to some extent risk-takers. Seekers go on many runs 
  with seasoned veterans before being trusted 
  to work autonomously, and anyone not tough 
  or reliable enough for the job would’ve been 
  weeded out. Thus, turning down a request from 
  a community leader to procure some vital item, 
  or passing up the chance to scout a crazy town 
  or track down rumors of ruins or a vault, is 
  missing the point of the campaign.
  Seekers are expected to be efficient, too. 
  It might be combat-effective to use guns in a 
  fight, but the adventurers should avoid this 
  if spears and blades would suffice. It may be 
  fun to use gasoline to immolate some zom-
  bies, but refined fuel is almost priceless and 
  better carted back home. Heroes who want to 
  play with gadgets should build their own from 
  scraps – a chainsaw driven by springs and fly-
  wheels is the stuff of legends.
  Finally, seekers need to be heroic. They aren’t 
  saints, of course, and acts of betrayal (Zombies, 
  p. 145) – including sacrificing other people 
  (Zombies, p. 121) and concealing zombie bites (Zombies, 
  p. 151) – might happen. Such treachery should be rare, how-
  ever. It’s reasonable to stoop to selfish behavior on a failed 
  self-control roll or Fright Check, but important to build and 
  roleplay adventurers who don’t routinely fail in the first place. 
  Again, the weak have been weeded out.
  Different World, Same Reality
  Seekers are mostly restricted to real-world traits: Resistant 
  to Disease exists but Immunity to Zombie Plague does not. 
  The setting is weird enough to support the occasional mutant 
  human or intelligent animal, but psi and super-powers are 
  unknown. It’s cinematic enough to include Gadgeteer, but 
  not Quick Gadgeteer or Gunslinger, Trained by a Master, or 
  Weapon Master. It’s technologically fluid between TL0 and 
  TL8, but features no TL9+ or superscience. Finally, nobody 
  can have infected Allies; abilities for controlling, creating, or 
  curing zombies; or supernatural gifts of any kind (divine favor, 
  magic, etc.).
  Gear Check
  This setting uses the post-apocalyptic assumptions 
  described in Survivalists (Zombies, p. 152): The economy is 
  nominally TL4; everyone starts with $2,000 worth of equip-
  ment, adjusted for personal Wealth; and TL0-4 gear (like any-
  thing in GURPS Low-Tech) has its usual price, while the cost 
  of TL5-8 items (such as those in GURPS High-Tech) doubles 
  for each TL after TL4. Neither money nor a universal stan-
  dard of barter exists, so any unallocated “equipment allow-
  ance” is lost. There are no laws, either, making Legality Class 
  is irrelevant – the only other limit is what the GM decides is 
  available to seekers, which will change as they go on adven-
  tures and discover new things.
  
   
  dePravIty Well 
  49
  When faint radio signals arrived from a planet in the hab-
  itable zone of a nearby star, Earth’s scientists were ecstatic. 
  Nobody could decipher the message, but it was the sign they’d 
  been waiting for. When estimates put the surface gravity at just 
  shy of 1.2G and surface temperature at around 300K (only a 
  little warm), giving an ESI above 0.8, there was the predictable 
  talk of visiting. But covering 22 light-years would take forever.
  Then Dr. Catherine Bellemare came up with the neg-
  ative-mass drive (“NEMAD”), which could make the trip in 
  a little under 45 years . . . using exotic matter nobody had 
  observed and more energy than humanity could generate. 
  Nevertheless, the promise of meeting aliens spurred an inter-
  national effort to solve these problems. In 2050 – after 35 years 
  of painstaking effort to accumulate “quantum fuel” – the task 
  force had a working engine.
  And lots of caveats.
  First, the trip would be one-way – when the drive’s “bub-
  ble” collapsed on arrival, so would the engine. Second, even 
  with predicted efficiency increases, a follow-up mission 
  would take another 15 to 20 years of all-out effort. Finally, 
  there was no guarantee the crew wouldn’t be broiled, irra-
  diated, or otherwise killed; the scientists had only theories 
  and the engineers and physicians had no test bed.
  Astronauts are pioneers at heart, though, and medical 
  hibernation had been invented in the interim; there were 
  plenty of volunteers. The vessel, inevitably christened 
  Nomad, would carry 20 people and everything needed to be 
  self-sufficient. Their journey would take around 39 years of 
  subjective time. In stasis, the travelers’ bodies would age at 
  1/10 the usual rate. A crew with an average age of 34 would 
  arrive feeling as if they were around 40 years old. Nomad II 
  would follow as soon as it could.
  We got there. Only two of us were broiled – or more like 
  disintegrated. Three others died of hibernation sickness. 
  The 15 survivors were in good shape.
  Then the planetary defenses pounded us. They were in dis-
  repair; the satellites croaked after the first salvo. But we were 
  forced to crash-land, and two of us died in the process, leaving 
  an unlucky 13 to make first contact.
  Which was when we discovered the place was dead – or as 
  one wise-ass put it, undead. Some sort of nanotech, not so dif-
  ferent from that in our hibernation pods, had run amok and 
  turned the locals into “meat robots.” Once creepily similar to 
  us, they had become beasts who went around eating anything 
  organic. And they made it clear we were on the menu by trim-
  ming our numbers to an even dozen.
  The nanomachines seem to be geared to one particular spe-
  cies, which is good news – though we’re worried about the 
  similarity to our hibernation tech. The nanobots replicate and 
  repair. What if they can adapt?
  Fortunately, we brought guns and survival gear. Unfortu-
  nately, Nomad is wrecked, so we have no transmitter. We can’t 
  leave, or even send a message. All we can do is wait 15 to 20 
  years, avoiding “zombies” as we salvage technology we barely 
  understand and try to decipher an alien language.
  day one
  Nomad crashed mere days ago. The initial scouting party 
  discovered that the planet’s residents were technologically 
  advanced (mature TL10 vs. Earth’s TL9) and quite 
  extinct – and then encountered a pack of hun-
  gry zombies. They defeated these at the cost of a 
  crewman’s life. The crew salvaged everything they 
  could, established a defensible base, and started 
  piecing together the puzzle. One of the surviving 
  medical scanners, capable of detecting hiberna-
  tion nano, found the reanimation nanomachines 
  on an alien corpse recovered by the scouts.
  And that’s where things stand What the 
  heroes do next is up to them!
  at a glanCe:  
  dePravIty Well
  Genre: Science-Fiction Horror.
  Tech Level: 9-10 (with background TL^).
  Power Level: Hardened Survivors (150 points) to Born 
  Zombie-Killers (250 points).
  Supernatural Powers: None.
  Scope: Global Apocalypse.
  Zombies: One type, living but not infectious (yet . . .).
  Useful Supplements: GURPS Ultra-Tech, plus GURPS 
  Space if the GM wants to detail the alien solar system 
  and GURPS Spaceships if visitors show up.
  CHaPter eIgHt
  dePravIty Well
  Bones will mend, wounds will 
  heal, diseases cured. Isn’t that worth 
  everything? Anything!
  – Dr. Spires, in Silent Rage
  
   
  dePravIty Well 
  50
  Hot, Heavy, HaZy Hell
  The Nomad crew promptly dubbed the alien world “Hell” 
  because it’s hot and full of dead people. It’s up to the GM 
  whether its formal designation corresponds to anything 
  known today (e.g., Gliese 667 Cc). It differs from Earth in a 
  few important respects:
  Temperature. Hell is roughly 40°F warmer than Earth. 
  Nomad crashed in a relatively cool temperate region where 
  temperatures range between 50°F and 120°F, averaging in 
  the mid 80s. Winter is pleasant enough (50°F to 70°F). Sum-
  mer weather is oppressive (100°F to 120°F); humans without 
  Temperature Tolerance or an 
  environment suit will lose extra 
  FP when active (Heat, p. B434) 
  and require 1.5 to 2.5 times the 
  usual amount of water (Dehy-
  dration, p. B426). This is due to 
  atmospheric composition com-
  bined with insolation peaked in 
  the near infrared. Insufficient 
  ultraviolet reaches the surface 
  for Sunburn (p. B434) to matter.
  Gravity. Surface gravity is 
  1.17G, increasing encumbrance 
  and 
  terminal 
  velocity, 
  and 
  reducing jumping and throwing 
  distances. Work out the affected 
  quantities instead of 1G values, 
  which won’t come up in this 
  campaign. As gravity is less than 
  one full human G-Increment 
  (0.2G) away from Earth-normal, 
  there are no attribute penalties 
  and there’s no special value 
  to G-Experience or Improved 
  G-Tolerance. For details, review 
  Different Gravity (p. B350).
  Light Level. By Earth stan-
  dards, the sun seems dim and distant. Nights are no darker, 
  but daytime Vision and attack rolls that rely solely on natural 
  light have an extra -2. The Night Vision advantage (or equiva-
  lent technology) offsets this as usual.
  The atmosphere is breathable – oxygenated, and denser 
  than Earth’s but not so dense as to cause humans problems. 
  Its most pronounced effects are factored into the notes on 
  temperature and light level. However, it smells weird, giving 
  humans -1 to rolls for scent-based tasks (breathing bottled or 
  filtered air avoids the odor but makes such rolls impossible!). 
  The GM can waive the penalty after one (Earth) month.
  Day and year length are left to the GM not out of laziness 
  but because a lot of gamers find constantly converting into the 
  timekeeping units used by many GURPS rules to be annoying. 
  Most important is that short years mean fewer consecutive 
  days of stifling summer weather more often, while long years 
  expose travelers to the heat for extended periods but also offer 
  longer respites.
  flora, fauna,  
  and all tHe rest
  The alien civilization that dom-
  inated Hell was even less environ-
  mentally conscious than present-day 
  humanity – that’s how runaway nano-
  machines destroyed their species. 
  Other nano and plain old chemical 
  and radiological waste remain active 
  and harmful. As a result, few wilder-
  ness expanses and almost no large ani-
  mal life survive. Which isn’t to say that 
  Hell is a dead planet.
  Plenty of small plants – and some 
  large ones – are slowly reclaiming the 
  wasted land. These tend to be red-
  dish in color but otherwise not unlike 
  Earth’s jungle vegetation in damp 
  areas or its desert flora in dry ones. 
  Most aren’t poisonous to humans, just 
  inedible without extensive processing, 
  and there are no exotic dangers such 
  as animated or flesh-eating plants. 
  However, many species feature urti-
  cating hairs, and contact requires a 
  HT roll at up to -5 (roll 1d-1 for penalty size) to avoid results 
  ranging from moderate pain to agony; see p. B428. Alien pol-
  lens and spores may trigger new allergies; roll as above for 
  coughing or sneezing (also p. B428). Eating a stinging plant – 
  or critical failure to resist allergens – can cause toxic damage. 
  On Earth, all this would be easy to avoid; on Hell, nobody has 
  a handy catalog of plant life.
  Surviving animal life is generally small, a mixture of inver-
  tebrate and tiny vertebrate species that aren’t much like any-
  thing on Earth. They don’t find human food interesting – too 
  different, too alien – so the Nomad crew doesn’t have to worry 
  about vermin. Other than the zombies, nothing is large or 
  interested enough to count as a predator. Plenty of flying and 
  crawling insect-like things sting and bite, though, with effects 
  similar to those noted for unpleasant plants.
  Whether any of Hell’s natural microbes are hazardous to 
  humans is anyone’s guess. The Nomad crew’s weapons and 
  environment suits are more than enough to cope with plant 
  and animal nuisances, but everybody is worried about bizarre 
  alien pathogens . . . especially nano-disease.
  They kill for one reason: they kill 
  for food. They eat their victims, you 
  understand that, Mr. Berman? That’s 
  what keeps them going!
  – Dr. Foster, in Dawn of  
  the Dead (1978)
  
   
  dePravIty Well 
  51
  settlements
  Hell’s sapient inhabitants had a mature TL10 civilization 
  with a penchant for urban sprawl and skyscraping towers. 
  There were tens of billions of them, relying on vat-grown food, 
  fusion power (sometimes antimatter-boosted), and brute-
  force nanotech to survive, ignoring the effects on the world 
  outside their cities. Their megalopolises covered many times 
  the area of Earth’s largest metropolises and were linked by 
  extensive smart-road, maglev, and evacuated-tube networks.
  While the lights are out and the large machinery no lon-
  ger runs, advanced materials and borderline-TL11 self-repair 
  nanotech have preserved much of the basic skeleton. Plenty of 
  structures still stand, preserving potentially useful knowledge 
  and technology. As the aliens were surprisingly human-like 
  (SM 0, four limbs, and an upright posture), passages, stairs, 
  doors, and workspaces are quite navigable by humans.
  The cities also shelter roving packs of zombies, who are 
  capable of consuming almost anything organic that shares 
  the urban space: mold, sludge from algal pools, small plants 
  and animals, and now humans. They might be incapable of 
  tool-use and complex social interaction, but they’re also on 
  home ground. They know where to hide and when to flee, and 
  are cunning enough to lead well-armed prey into dead ends 
  or onto unstable ground. They don’t mind swimming a toxic 
  slime puddle or scraping up someone who has fallen 20 stories 
  if that means eating.
  meet tHe loCals
  The bizarre fate of Hell’s residents is above all a stinging 
  criticism of pollution (Zombies, p. 9). The nanotech angle is 
  fresh paint on an old concept – Hell’s zombies are updates of 
  the toxic-waste monsters of 20th-century film, which them-
  selves owe much to 19th-century mad science. The Nomad 
  crew is afraid of zombie attacks, and regards the transformed 
  aliens as a local hazard – as fodder (Zombies, p. 11) – but 
  their tune will change if the nano adapts and affects the last 
  humans they’ll ever see. Then fears of the lack of an afterlife 
  and of cannibalism (Zombies, p. 8) will kick in as the survi-
  vors face eternal life as ghouls.
  tHe gory detaIls
  Hell’s zombies are dead alien bodies restored to genuine 
  biological life by ultra-tech nanomachines.
  The Meat
  The zombies are living, not undead. The nanomachines 
  responsible for them rebuild and rejuvenate reasonably 
  intact dead bodies – however old or sick – and then jolt 
  them back to vigorous, youthful life. Repeatedly. This pro-
  cess totally reconstructs the body, including the brain. 
  Thus, each “rebirth” creates an almost entirely new being, 
  familiar with its stomping grounds by dint of exploration 
  rather than memory.
  The Motivation
  Hell’s residents have been zombified by a self-replicat-
  ing nanotech “infection.” As this has spread planet-wide, 
  it’s more sensibly regarded as an environmental factor – a 
  kind of toxic waste (Zombies, p. 23) – than as a disease.
  Turning Points
  The nanotech resuscitates any dead alien body – regardless 
  of how often it has died in the past or whether it has been 
  exposed to other zombies – provided that it hasn’t been utterly 
  destroyed (reduced to -10¥HP). The process takes 1d days. 
  Other indigenous species seem to be unaffected but this may 
  be tied to brain complexity. Humans have just arrived and 
  their brains are more complex than those of surviving local 
  life. If the nano adapts, the effects could be unpredictable: ill-
  ness, sterility, zombification on death, transformation while 
  still alive . . .
  It’s easy to eliminate the nanomachines if you’re will-
  ing to kill the subject. A “cure” that leaves the patient alive 
  is theoretically possible but would require a lot of research 
  with Engineer/TL10 (Nanotechnology) and Physician/TL10. 
  A cured zombie would be a tabula rasa with no memory 
  of previous lives, and would have to be kept in isolation to 
  avoid immediate re-infection unless a vaccine were developed 
  alongside the antidote.
  By tHe numBers
  ReViv™-ified (Zombies, pp. 103-104) can be used almost as 
  written, with a couple of changes to suit the circumstances:
  • Remove Legally Dead [-45], since there’s no meaningful 
  social framework on Hell.
  • Change Odious Racial Habit (Eats Humans) [-15] to 
  Odious Racial Habit (Eats Sapient Beings) [-15] – the zombies 
  aren’t choosey!
  What Happened Here?
  The Nomad crew will doubtless want to learn Hell’s 
  story. Approaches include scientific investigation with 
  skills like Diagnosis, Electronics Operation (Medical), 
  Engineer (Nanotechnology), and Expert Skill (Epide-
  miology), and reading local records by deciphering data 
  protocols, encryption, and language with Computer Pro-
  gramming, Cryptography, and Linguistics, and then using 
  Research. Either will point to the conclusion that medi-
  cal nanomachines intended to grant clinical immortal-
  ity got out of control. The nano resuscitated the recently 
  deceased, but not as their old selves . . . and it proved 100% 
  fatal to fetuses, including clones. The race died out and 
  was replaced by near-immortal zombies.
  
   
  dePravIty Well 
  52
  This results in a -57-point tem-
  plate. The 12-point racial template 
  of the local aliens – see Hellions – 
  stacks with this to give a net -45-
  point zombie. There’s relatively 
  little physical or intellectual varia-
  tion between specimens; the nano 
  appears to rewrite everyone to a 
  uniform standard.
  Zombies that have lived their 
  current life for decades may have 
  spectacularly high levels at surviv-
  al-oriented skills, however! In the 
  abandoned megalopolises, these 
  include not only Area Knowledge 
  but also “parkour” skills such as 
  Acrobatics, Climbing, Jumping, and 
  Urban Survival. Though it’s rare 
  because the risk isn’t worth it, a few 
  zombies hunt each other, leading 
  to impressive ability at Brawling, 
  Stealth, Tracking, and Wrestling.
  exPlorIng Hell
  The saga of the Nomad crew is a mixture of survival, 
  violence, and exploration. The heroes have to keep track of 
  resources – ammo, food, medical supplies, power cells, and 
  so on – while coping with a trying physical environment. They 
  must also evade and often fight hungry zombies who outnum-
  ber them overwhelmingly and won’t stay dead. If they hope to 
  send a message home and perhaps live to see Nomad II, they’ll 
  want to unravel the mysteries and technology of Hell’s zombi-
  fied inhabitants. And over it all hangs a pall of horror: “What 
  if what happened to them happens to us?”
  setuP
  The hard work needed for this campaign concerns not the 
  zombies but the explorers (who are they and what did they 
  bring?) and the world they’re exploring (what’s there and what 
  are its secrets?).
  Starting Conditions
  The Nomad crew are highly qualified astronauts. Reviewing 
  Power Level (p. B487), “at the realistic pinnacle of physical, 
  mental, or social achievement” sounds right – that’s 100 to 200 
  points. Given that they were chosen from among the world’s 
  best and have reached that pinnacle in several areas apiece, 
  going to the high end (200 points) or even a bit beyond (250 
  points) seems reasonable.
  Despite the visitors’ fears, there’s little chance of becom-
  ing a zombie before death. The odds that Hell’s runaway nano 
  can cause illness or other unpredictable results are consider-
  ably higher. Intrinsic resistance to that specific threat isn’t a 
  plausible starting ability, but astronauts are extremely likely 
  to be in top physical shape and thus difficult to affect – the 
  GM may want to impose a minimum effective HT of 12, with 
  Fit or Very Fit adding +1 or +2, respectively, for the purpose. 
  Nobody can have any attribute below human average, and 
  physical disadvantages are right out.
  The big deal here is starting equipment. Though a satisfy-
  ingly high TL9, it isn’t what the astronauts chose to bring – it’s 
  what the world saw fit to outfit them with. Moreover, only a 
  small subset of it survived the crash. The GM must pore over 
  GURPS Ultra-Tech and make a list of everything that suits the 
  mission and wasn’t destroyed, which can be a lot of work. See 
  Gear Check (p. 55) for some important practical details.
  Homework
  Beyond that list of gear and any training requirements 
  the GM elects to impose on the crew, it would be useful to 
  define Nomad in GURPS Spaceships terms to make it easier 
  to judge what general kinds of salvage are available. GURPS 
  Spaceships 5: Exploration and Colony Spacecraft is espe-
  cially useful for this. Assume Nomad is TL9 and SM +8 or at 
  most +9, with one habitat system consisting almost entirely of 
  hibernation chambers and one system dedicated to the (col-
  lapsed, worthless) negative-mass drive. If Nomad II puts in 
  an appearance, it can be TL10, larger, and possibly boast two 
  NEMAD systems – one for the return trip.
  As for Hell, detailing it using GURPS Space is always an 
  option. However, with no working land transportation – at 
  first, anyway – the explorers are going to be roaming a rel-
  atively small area on foot. Mapping the planet is therefore 
  less useful than sketching out the nearest metropolitan area. 
  Exploring this could easily be the focus of the entire cam-
  paign, but the GM doesn’t have to generate it all at once. If the 
  astronauts wisely remain near the crash site to salvage gear, 
  it’s fine to think in terms of a modest radius around that. If 
  they opt to start hiking, focus on their path.
  HellIons
  The locals, dubbed “hellions” or “demons” by the Nomad crew, are externally 
  quite similar to humans, with roughly our size and morphology, though with six 
  digits per extremity. Before their disaster, they even had two sexes and bore live 
  young. Their native biochemistry and organ structure are unknown – the nano 
  overwrote those things.
  The template below gives the meaningful physical differences from humanity: 
  a sturdier frame and better adaptation to heat and dim light. Back in the day, 
  they’d also have qualified for High TL 1 [5] or even High TL 2 [10], and probably 
  a few psychological perks and quirks.
  Hellion
  12 points
  Attribute Modifiers: ST+1 [10].
  Advantages: Night Vision 2 [2]; Temperature Tolerance 1 [1].
  Quirks: Photosensitivity (GURPS Power-Ups 6: Quirks, p. 24) [-1].
  Features: Native Gravity 1.17G; Temperature Comfort Zone 55°F to 120°F.
  
   
  dePravIty Well 
  53
  Just as important is deciding what Hell’s former civiliza-
  tion achieved. This could be almost any non-superscience 
  innovation up to TL10. They were especially advanced in the 
  area of nanotechnology, so there may be some TL11 surprises.
  rules
  Physically fit, scientifically minded explorers will use 
  Discovering Zombie Flaws (Zombies, p. 35) to deduce the 
  locals’ disadvantages; think in terms of Survival Gear 
  (Zombies, pp. 47-48) when prioritizing salvage; eventually 
  learn that Intimidation (and Other Skills) (Zombies, pp. 117-
  118) works; and treat Staying Out of Reach (Zombies, pp. 120-
  122) as standard operating procedure. Initially, they’re likely 
  to be convinced that Biohazard! (Zombies, pp. 119-120), 
  Splatter (Zombies, p. 125), and If Thine Eye Offends Thee 
  (Zombies, p. 128) are relevant. Eventually, A Better Tomorrow 
  (Zombies, pp. 129-133) may yield not a cure, but a weapon 
  that targets the zombies’ Vulnerability.
  On the zombies’ part, Biting 101 (Zombies, pp. 108-109) 
  summarizes important rules for any hungry predator and Can’t 
  Stun This (Zombies, p. 111) is applicable. They, too, will make 
  use of Mobility (Zombies, pp. 121-122), to the heroes’ chagrin.
  mood and PaCIng
  The GM must keep things scary despite the protagonists 
  being rational women and men of science, outfitted with TL9 
  gadgetry, facing only primitive, bestial zombies. The key to 
  doing so is playing up several angles that have relatively lit-
  tle to do with zombies: isolation from the rest of humanity 
  for a period ranging from “years” to “forever,” Hell’s dimly lit 
  oppressiveness, deciphering the local technology before sup-
  plies run out, and the looming specter of runaway nanotech. 
  These things should intertwine and twist in ways that lead to 
  frayed nerves and Fright Checks. Here are a few suggestions:
  Salvage. Stripping the Nomad wreckage of useful resources 
  could be the objective of several adventures. It might be 
  tempting to camp out there, but that’s ill-advised; neutron 
  activation in the cracked casings of TL9 fusion reactors and 
  thrusters has left the debris slightly radioactive. Touchdown 
  was noisy and obvious enough to attract zombies, too, and 
  demolished anything that would obstruct their line of sight. 
  These complications plus the fact the hulk is mangled and 
  unstable offer claustrophobic horror as the heroes squeeze 
  through tight, dark quarters, their dosimeters clicking, never 
  knowing whether there’s a zombie just ahead. If that becomes 
  repetitive, remember that of the eight dead crewmen, three 
  died in hibernation and two in the crash, so the bodies of 
  five friends may turn up zombified once the nano adapts – 
  and that’s Fright Check territory! Once that grows old, don’t 
  forget that nobody here understands NEMAD (those two mis-
  sion specialists died on the trip) . . . the spent systems might 
  have enough of a superscience spark to bring new weirdness, 
  for which a viewing of Event Horizon is encouraged.
  Exploration. Exploring an alien megalopolis is tense enough 
  when a zombie ambush could lurk anywhere – behind a door, 
  around a corner or overhead, even rappelling down a dark 
  shaft on tentacular cables. If the explorers find a transmitter, 
  communications will take 22 years each way; if they locate a 
  spaceship, it will lack NEMAD. Deducing how to use the local 
  equipment to produce food and power is therefore a priority, 
  but that’s a matter of figuring out alien technology (at -5 to -10 
  from Tech-Level Penalties, p. B168) and language (rolls that 
  rely on manuals have an extra -5, dropping to -3, -1, and finally 
  0 once somebody learns the language; see Comprehension 
  Levels, p. B24). Each failure ought to fray nerves: -1 to any 
  Fright Checks. And the tech itself – in the form of lethal secu-
  rity systems, homicidal AIs, and weird near-TL11 experiments 
  – may lead to quite few Fright Checks indeed.
  Nano. While the possibility of weaponized nano (see 
  Metabolic Nanoweapons, GURPS Ultra-Tech, pp. 161-162) 
  sitting in abandoned labs is worrisome, knowledge that Hell 
  harbors nanotech gone wild is terrifying. In addition to adapt-
  ing to and zombifying dead crewmen, runaway nano could 
  have . . . effects on the living. Mysterious sickness is the kind-
  est option. If the stuff starts rewriting cells, people might 
  “mutate” slowly over time, with injured or even severed body 
  parts growing back in grotesque ways. And the zombie nano’s 
  apparent optimization for complex brains suggests that it may 
  have equally noxious effects on sanity.
  Rules to Avoid
  Rules linked to the supernatural or to cinematic 
  superscience are irrelevant. So are those for cur-
  ing or creating zombies (although they might be 
  adapted to developing countermeasures). And so are 
  those for direct infection through bites, bodily fluids, 
  and so on – an infectious agent of sorts is at work 
  and might affect humans, but it’s a ubiquitous envi-
  ronmental factor.
  NASA once asked me to consider the possible application  
  of psychoactive drugs in the space program . . . This zombi poison 
  could provide a fascinating model for experiments in artificial 
  hibernation.
  – Nathan S. Kline to Wade Davis,  
  The Serpent and the Rainbow
  
   
  dePravIty Well 
  54
  Beyond. The signal that summoned Nomad was auto-
  mated, and came decades or even centuries too late to help 
  Hell (assuming it was a call for help – maybe it was a warn-
  ing to stay away!). Other worlds might have received it during 
  that time. Alien visitors from nearby systems may show up 
  to investigate. If they’re shot down as well, there’s no guar-
  antee that any survivors would be friendly . . . or not turn 
  into far worse zombies. If they aren’t shot down, they may 
  survey the planet, deem it a hazard, and do anything from 
  putting advanced defenses in orbit that will pulverize Nomad 
  II, through landing extermination parties who see humans as 
  “just other zombies,” to nuking the site from orbit. This adds 
  a whole new dimension to the need to act quickly and find a 
  way to communicate.
  All this should be part of a general arc leading toward 
  establishing a long-term base, calling home, and possibly neu-
  tralizing the nano. However, horror is the watchword, so reg-
  ular success and progress aren’t half as important as barely 
  surviving until the next Bad Thing comes along!
  tougH Calls
  Hell is tough on the Nomad crew but relatively easy on 
  the GM: None of the heroes possess the borderline-TL11 
  knowhow to create zombies (at best, they’ll discover how to 
  kill zombies more efficiently) and they’re unlikely to acquire 
  it in play. Even if they do, the zombies aren’t controlla-
  ble. Most important, death ends careers – a dead explorer 
  might come back, but with a wiped mind and no interest in 
  humans beyond eating them, and there’s no cure for that. 
  Thus, nobody can play a zombie. The answer to almost any 
  question about interactions with zombies is, “You can either 
  avoid them or kill them.”
  The elephant in the room is that there are just 12 humans 
  on the planet. Dead PCs can be replaced only by whichever of 
  the other 11 survive – and each dead NPC means one fewer 
  replacement. Thus, these NPCs are really PCs-in-waiting, and 
  the GM must take good care of them, not use them as fodder. 
  See And Then There Were None (below).
  our stalWart CreW
  Every single member of the Nomad complement was hand-
  picked from among many hundreds of qualified candidates, 
  themselves chosen from among tens of thousands of hope-
  fuls. Each has been thoroughly tested for mental and physical 
  fitness, and given the coveted mission of representing Earth to 
  an alien civilization.
  CHaraCter CreatIon
  Crewmembers should have average or better attributes 
  (notably IQ and HT), no major physical disadvantages, no 
  mental problems that would affect mission performance, 
  and a wide range of TL9 scientific and technical skills. As 
  they are the select few, it’s better to craft each one by hand 
  than to rely on templates.
  Power Level
  The GM will set this at between 150 and 250 points.
  Character Types
  A spaceship crew includes many people whose roles 
  aren’t essential to the planetary side of the mission. It’s 
  best to assume that those astronauts didn’t make it: the 
  two who disintegrated and three who perished in hiber-
  nation died en route, victims of a botched early revival 
  to correct a navigational error. The two who died in the 
  crash were in the cockpit. The poor guy who got eaten 
  by zombies was ill-equipped to be on the ground. That 
  accounts for all the pilots, navigators, and drive engineers.
  The 12 who survived fill three essential roles, in more-
  or-less equal proportions:
  First-contact specialists are trained to handle alien 
  behavior, language, and customs. They’ll have Language 
  Talent; Gesture, Linguistics, and Psychology skills; and 
  social skills that may prove useful even on Hell (e.g., Intim-
  idation for scaring off zombies and Leadership for orga-
  nizing crewmates). They’ll understand communications 
  technology, too, notably Computer Programming, Cryp-
  tography, and Electronics Operation (Comm and Media). 
  And Then There Were None
  Death is quite likely on Hell, but there are just 12 
  humans on the planet! The default assumption is that 
  each player creates an equal share of the surviving crew, 
  roleplaying one as a starting PC and calling out the 
  actions of the others. Thus, each person has a backup in 
  the event they lose their first choice. If someone runs out 
  of characters, it’s fairest to call a group meeting and reas-
  sign somebody else’s alternate; the GM ought to reward 
  the player who gives up a replacement with a few bonus 
  points for heroism. The GM might also reserve a few 
  crewmen; e.g., five players could create one PC and one 
  stand-in apiece, leaving the GM with two spares for any-
  body who needs one.
  Not Regulation
  Nobody can have below-average attributes or any dis-
  advantage the GM feels would prevent selection. Simply 
  ignore social traits like Rank and Wealth; people have 
  them, but they won’t matter much on Hell. Until crewmen 
  are “mutated” by alien nano, no exotic abilities are avail-
  able – and even then, nobody can have supernatural gifts 
  or the capacity to create or influence zombies. As writ-
  ten, this campaign doesn’t include cinematic capabilities, 
  either, but the GM might relent and allow Cultural Adapt-
  ability to first-contact experts or Gadgeteer to science and 
  support personnel.
  
   
  dePravIty Well 
  55
  And they’ll be trained in fields valuable for investigating aban-
  doned cities and records, like Anthropology, Archaeology, 
  Architecture, Research, and Sociology.
  Science personnel have multiple doctorates in quantitative 
  fields. Each should have many skills from among Astronomy, 
  Bioengineering, Biology, Cartography, Chemistry, Computer 
  Programming, Engineer, Geography, Geology, Mathematics, 
  Meteorology, Physics, and Prospecting. Duplication 
  between scientists is a good thing – there are lots of 
  specialties and backup is essential. Ancillary tech-
  nical skills are likely: Electronics Operation (Scien-
  tific and Sensors) for physical sciences, Explosives 
  (Demolition) to go with Engineer (Mining) or Pros-
  pecting, and so on. Research is essential, too.
  Support crew are trained to keep the equipment 
  running and the others alive. They’ll have com-
  binations of repair skills (Armoury, Electrician, 
  Electronics Repair, Machinist, and Mechanic) and 
  medical skills (Diagnosis, Electronics Operation 
  (Medical), First Aid, Physician, and Surgery), plus 
  odds and ends such as Driving (Tracked), Freight 
  Handling, Hazardous Materials, Navigation (Land), 
  and Scrounging. The crew includes no true marines, 
  but if anybody has Soldier, Tactics, or combat skills, 
  it’s these people.
  All skills should be TL9 and relevant; e.g., Engi-
  neer/TL9 (Nanotechnology) makes sense for an 
  ultra-tech space mission involving nanotech hiber-
  nation, but Engineer/TL9 (Clockwork) would be 
  silly. The GM should show the players the equipment manifest 
  before they choose skills for operating gear. Given the rigorous 
  selection process, skills should be backed by the highest DX 
  and IQ possible, allowing many at good levels for few points. 
  Gamers with GURPS Power-Ups 3: Talents can exploit the 
  Talents there for further optimization.
  Required Traits
  As Starting Conditions (p. 52) notes, HT 12+ after any 
  bonus from Fit or Very Fit might be a campaign requirement. 
  Beyond that, it’s hard to imagine a group of astronauts who 
  lack at least a point in each of a few basic space skills (Free Fall, 
  Spacer, and Vacc Suit) or who can’t operate basic technology 
  (Computer Operation) – and on a mission of exploration, it 
  would be reasonable to require Observation and Photography, 
  and maybe Electronics Operation (Sensors). Finally, it’s highly 
  recommended that the GM make Sense of Duty (Crew) [-5] a 
  campaign disadvantage.
  Appropriate Traits
  Everything noted in Survival Traits (Zombies, p. 27) makes 
  sense for a gang of astronauts being sent on one-way trip – in 
  effect, a survival mission. No “special” abilities really suit a 
  quasi-realistic campaign about planetary exploration, but the 
  GM might want to allow a version of NBC Suit Experience 
  (Zombies, p. 31) that works with the crew’s environment suits.
  tHe Best of tHe Best
  The Nomad astronauts are the team Earth chose to repre-
  sent it to the stars. They’ve lived and trained together, and are 
  prepared for the possibility of being the only humans they’ll 
  ever see again. Betrayal! (Zombies, p. 145) isn’t an option. The 
  GM may seal the contract by giving everyone five extra points 
  balanced by Sense of Duty (Crew) [-5].
  This has profound ramifications for roleplaying. Players 
  may portray their characters as individuals but must strive to 
  avoid arguments and to act like rational individuals who do 
  the logical thing even when that goes against personal pref-
  erences. This complicates the matter of Sacrifice (Zombies, 
  p. 121), especially, because beyond never sacrificing a team-
  mate, sacrificing oneself is risky – the crew can’t afford to lose 
  anyone, so dying when there’s any other solution isn’t heroic 
  but selfish.
  The group’s rational outlook will also color how they view 
  Hell’s fate. They already know that nanotech got loose and 
  transformed the locals. As further truths emerge – the 
  aliens died and came back as flesh-eating ghouls –  
  the parallels to fictional zombies will be obvious. Our 
  heroes won’t cave in to superstition, though, because 
  there’s a scientific explanation. Isolation and physical 
  danger make the situation scary, but not spooky.
  Finally, remember that even stranded, down to 60% 
  strength, and beset by zombies, the Nomad gang are 
  explorers. They’ll be conservative where resources or 
  lives are at stake but not when human knowledge is in 
  the balance. Unraveling superior technology, rigging a 
  transmitter, and beaming the data home could spur a 
  golden age on Earth and perhaps even spare it from 
  ecological disaster. That would be worth a sacrifice!
  Gear Check
  For a proper “crash landing” feel, the GM needs to browse the 
  various tech compendia, especially GURPS Ultra-Tech, and cata-
  log everything that survived the wreck. One environment suit per 
  crewmember plus a total of $300,000 to $400,000 worth of other 
  stuff ought to do. Much of this allowance should consist of food, 
  medical supplies, and power cells – but portable communicators, 
  scientific equipment, sensors, and toolkits are also logical, as are 
  a few light weapons. Anything semi-portable or larger was aban-
  doned in the hot, unstable wreckage; it might be recoverable, rep-
  arable, and useable once the debris is safe to approach, but that’s 
  a later adventure. The players should distribute the gear in play; 
  aside from their suits, nothing “belongs” to anyone! Remember, 
  there are 12 survivors . . . if the PCs get a disproportionate share of 
  the goodies, the whole team will be weaker and potential replace-
  ment characters may die.
  
   
  Index 
  56
  B-movie ghouls, 25, 33.
  Campaigns, Alpha and Omega, 37-42; Depravity 
  Well, 49-55; Empire of the Necromancer-
  King, 5-10; Fields of Fear, 11-16; Savage 
  Streets, 17-22; Time of the Zombies, 43-48; 
  Ultimate Zombie-Fighters, 30-36; Zeta Force, 
  23-29; see also Genres of Campaigns, Power 
  Levels of Campaigns, Scopes of Campaigns.
  Character creation, Born Zombie-Killers, 
  9-10, 21-22, 27-29, 35-36, 54-55; Hardened 
  Survivors, 21-22, 47-48, 54-55; Heroic, 15-
  16, 27-29; Zombies, What Zombies?, 41-42.
  Crazies, 34.
  Face-eaters, 19.
  Galvanoids, 25.
  Gear requirements, 9, 15, 22, 29, 36, 42, 48, 55.
  Genres of campaigns, fantasy, 5-10; historical, 
  11-16; modern action, 17-22; modern 
  conspiracy, 23-29; modern monster-hunters, 
  23-29; modern splatter, 30-36; post-
  apocalypse, 43-48; science fiction, 49-55; 
  supers, 37-42.
  GURPS, 4; Action, 17, 21, 22, 30, 34, 35; 
  Action 1: Heroes, 36; Basic Set, 4; 
  Creatures of the Night, 6; Dungeon 
  Fantasy, 5, 6, 8-10; Dungeon Fantasy  
  16: Wilderness Adventures, 8, 43, 46;  
  Gun Fu, 17, 20, 22, 29, 30, 35, 36;  
  High-Tech, 11, 14, 15, 17, 20, 22, 23, 29, 
  30, 43, 48; High-Tech: Adventure Guns, 
  11, 14; Horror, 11, 16, 23; Loadouts: 
  Monster Hunters, 22, 29; Low-Tech, 5, 6, 
  43, 48; Magic, 5, 10, 23, 29; Martial Arts, 
  17, 30, 35; Mass Combat, 5-9; Monster 
  Hunters, 8, 10, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28; Monster 
  Hunters 2: The Mission, 11; Monster 
  Hunters 3: The Enemy, 26; Mysteries, 
  11; Power-Ups 2: Perks, 42; Power-Ups 
  3: Talents, 55; Power-Ups 5: Impulse 
  Buys, 30, 35; Power-Ups 6: Quirks, 
  52; Powers, 5, 10, 23, 37, 42; Powers: 
  Divine Favor, 10; Psi-Tech, 29; Psionic 
  Campaigns, 29; Psionic Powers, 29; Psis, 
  29; Social Engineering, 11, 16; Space, 
  49, 52; Spaceships, 49, 52; Spaceships 5: 
  Exploration and Colony Spacecraft, 52; 
  Supers, 37, 41, 42; Tactical Shooting, 15, 
  17, 20, 22, 29; Thaumatology, 11, 12, 16, 
  23; Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic, 10, 
  12, 29; Ultra-Tech, 49, 52, 53, 55; Zombies, 
  4, 5, 7-11, 13, 14, 16, 19-22, 25-29, 33-36, 
  39, 40, 42, 45, 46, 48, 51, 53, 55.
  Hellion template, 52.
  Infected, 25, 33; variant template, 45.
  Infested, 25.
  Necromantic reanimates, 7.
  Neuroids, 25.
  Omega Team meta-trait, 41.
  Overviews, Alpha and Omega, 37; Depravity 
  Well, 49; Empire of the Necromancer-King, 
  5; Fields of Fear, 11; Savage Streets, 17; 
  Time of the Zombies, 43; Ultimate Zombie-
  Fighters, 30; Zeta Force, 23.
  Plague ghouls, 39.
  Power levels of campaigns, Born Zombie-
  Killers, 5-10, 17-22, 23-29, 30-36, 49-55; 
  Hardened Survivors, 17-22, 43-48, 49-55; 
  Heroic, 11-16, 23-29; Zombies, What 
  Zombies?, 37-42.
  Reanimated corpses, 25.
  ReViv™-ified, 51-52.
  Scopes of campaigns, Apocalypse, 30-36, 43-48, 
  49-55; Local Incident, 11-16, 17-22, 23-29; 
  Widespread Outbreak, 5-10, 37-42.
  Shattered minds, 25.
  Soldier X, 25.
  TEOTWAWKI, defined, 17.
  Templates, new, 45, 52.
  Vodou slaves, 13.
  Whisperers, 33.
  Zombie variations, 7, 13, 19, 25, 32-34, 39-40, 
  45, 51-52.
  Zombots, 25.
  Index
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