THE RUNNING DEATH Having a Career in the Zombie Apocalypse

CREDITS Authors: Joseph Hooker, Kevin Golding, Kurtis Evans Editors: Kevin Golding, Kurtis Evans Playtesters: The Terminal Gamers – Lisa & David Green, Dylan Green, Al Yuhas, Jai Pawlak, Ryan Toper Art Credits: Klaus Shmidheister, Kurtis Evans, cover based on art from Street & Smith’s Wild West Weekly Cartography/Layout: Kurtis Evans, with train images blatantly stolen from Jolly Blackburn Epic Gratitude: Kenzer & Company, particularly Steve Johansson and David Kenzer who gave us more than they ever needed to, including fonts, graphics, and especially including permission to make this supplement. Not to mention, they actually made Aces & Eights – the greatest Western RPG ever! TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword . 1 CHAPTER 5: NEW PROFESSIONAL PATHS CHAPTER 1: THE RUNNING DEATH Having a Career in the Zombie Apocalypse . .18 Introduction . 2 Basic Timeline . 3 CHAPTER 6: GM STRATEGIES Bait & Tackle . 19 CHAPTER 2: RUNNING THE ZOMBIE HORDES Strategies & Tips . 20 Movement Action Rates . 5 Afflicted Attack Methods . 5 APPINDEX & ADDITIONAL MAPS Priors & Particulars . 6 Advanced Rules . 20 Physical Differences . 8 Afflicted Wound Severity Chart . 21 Goods & Gear on an Afflicted . 9 Afflicted Templates . 33 Starvation Rules . 10 Spread of the Running Death map . 35 Index . 36 CHAPTER 3: WEAPONS AGAINST THE RUNNING DEATH Table of Weapons . 10 ADVENTURE – DEATH AT FORT ALFERD Fire Damage . 11 Background & Adventure Hooks . 38 Throwing a Bottle . 12 Rumors, Adventure Overview, & Basic Timeline . 40 Dropping a Piano . 13 Afflicted Attack Strategies . 44 A Barrel of Gunpowder . 15 Fort Alferd Specifics & Common Fort Supplies . 46 General Store Items for Sale . 49 CHAPTER 4: INFECTION RULES & CONVERSION SPEED Generic NPCs; Men, Women & Children . 53 Instant Conversion rules . 15 Sample Flavor Text . 54 Wound & Conversion chart . 17 Sample Journal Entry . 56 Symptom chart . 17 Maps of Fort Alferd . 57 KENZER AND COMPANY 511 W. Greenwood Ave. Waukegan, IL 60087 TERMINAL STUDIOS YOUR GAME YOUR WAY, AT TERMINAL SPEED Questions. Comments. Product Orders? Phone: (847) 662-6600 email: [email protected] Fax: (847) 680-8950 Visit our website at email: [email protected] www.terminal-studios.com Visit our website at www.kenzerco.com This book is protected under international treaties and copyright laws of the United States PUBLISHER’S NOTE: of America. No part of this product may be reproduced, without the express written This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the consent of Kenzer and Company. Permission is granted to the acquirer of this product to authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or reproduce sections of this book for personal use only. Sale or trade of such dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. reproductions is entirely prohibited. With respect to trademarks: Aces & Eights, the Aces & Eights logo, Showdown, Shot Clock and the Kenzer and Company logo are trademarks of Kenzer and Company. ©Copyright 2010 Kenzer & Company Inc. All Rights Reserved. Foreward This supplement was first proposed to Kenzer & Company in July of 2010. I can’t remember exactly how we came up with it, but I’m pretty sure it occurred a few hours before my gaming group took their first stab at Jolly Blackburn’s excellent Aces & Eights adventure Trouble on the Sequoyah Star. As Joe and I were getting ready for that night’s game, he was probably neck deep into explaining to me in epic detail how, when the Zombie Apocalypse comes, he’d be ready. “I’ve got 15 phone numbers on my cell,” he told me. “I push one button and boom, everybody springs into action.” It reminded me of a post I’d read on the Kenzer & Company forums at some point in the past – somebody (I can’t remember who) was running an A&8’s campaign with Lovecraftian overtones. Even without knowing the details, it’s pretty obvious that a game like Aces & Eights – which has some of the most compelling, realistic combat mechanics ever – would be the perfect setting for a surrealistic adventure, like a battle with Lovecraft’s Old Ones. Or even better – the Shattered Frontier is perfect for a Zombie Apocalypse. I wrote up the proposal the following week, and sent it off to the Kenzer staff. I still have that original document. I promised cool zombie mechanics, new weapons to fight the walking dead (such as the brass spittoon, always handy for bludgeoning), and perhaps a few other things that might compliment even the campaigns of those who’d want nothing to do with zombies (assuming such a mad man exists). A few weeks later, I found myself in Indianapolis, Indiana, as 1 of more than 30,000 pilgrims who made the trek to GenCon 2010. I’d managed to talk my civilian wife into hitting up the greatest gaming con ever, and in the process I brought with me hundreds of copies of HackMastering Kalamar – a free supplement I’d written up as a way of supporting Kenzer & Company’s kick-ass fantasy game. It was at this point that I had the opportunity to meet some of my gaming heroes, including the aforementioned Jolly Blackburn, creator of The Knights of the Dinner Table, and the rest of Kenzer & Company D-Team: Mark Plemmons, Dave Kenzer, and Steve Johansson (Brian Jelke was off in a European castle). As I was chatting with Jolly and Steve about gaming in general and Aces & Eights in particular, I misremembered Jolly as having implemented zombies into one of his A&8’s campaigns. “You’ve run zombies in Aces & Eights before, right?” I asked. Jolly denied this, but he seemed to recall that somebody had recently submitted an Aces & Eights: Zombie Apocalypse proposal. I meekly admitted that I was the one who’d done that. Immediately, Steve Johansson’s eyes blazed as if somebody had set them on fire. “Zombies in the Shattered Frontier?” he mused. “NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!” He proceeded to describe the idea as being ludicrous, as Aces & Eights is separated from other, inferior Wild West games because it is steeped in the dirty waters of reality. “There’s no magic in Aces & Eights,” Steve said. “Not now, not ever!” (I may have paraphrased some of Steve’s words just now, but “NOT GONNA HAPPEN” is quoted verbatim.) Later that night at the HackMaster Association’s annual get-together, I mentioned to Dave Kenzer how Steve’s shoot- down of my proposal was the highlight of my GenCon. He just snickered and said, “Well, it might not be a bad free product…” Which brings us to where we are today. What you have before you is a labor of love, which never could have happened without the permission of Kenzer & Company and the incredible support that their staff (lead by Steve) gave us. We’ve poured hundreds of hours into making the Zombie Apocalypse a real threat to the Shattered Frontier. Hopefully you’ll find it fulfilling and fun – and even if you only ever use this supplement to figure out how much damage is dealt to somebody who gets a piano dropped on them from 30 feet, then we’ve done our job. In any case, game on! Kurtis Evans Lead Writer, Terminal Studios P.S. And, Steve, if you’re reading this – don’t worry. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill Walking Dead zombies. The poor souls suffering from the Affliction may crave human flesh, even as their own hangs from their bodies like wet rags, but they aren’t dead. There’s no magic in The Running Death – instead, there’s just a hell of a lot of mayhem! can get up and run, those who fail to flee rarely live to stand another day. At first it went unnoticed, even to the cunning and the keen- eyed. There were sick men everywhere in those days – you didn’t have to look far to find the walking dead, not in the time of Civil This supplement is designed to help you implement a sensible War. Even in the relatively small skirmishes of the war, bodies Zombie Apocalypse upon your players. But be warned! Once piled up high enough so that brave men with no Christianly the first bite is made, it is practically impossible to ever go back! convictions could easily use them as barricades, sheltering In initiating the Zombie Apocalypse in the Shattered Frontier, themselves from the rain of bullets brought upon them by the although you may spend months – if not years – of regular play in opposing side. There were rivers of blood – literally, ditches in surviving and escaping it, you are essentially hitting the Reset the fields of combat flowed freely with the blood of men – and Switch on your Aces & Eights campaign. entire bodies of water became stained red with the broken hopes of both the Union and Confederacy. However, you just might think it’s worth it, for this simple reason – if you can play your cards close to your chest, they’ll The few men with time enough to think would later recognize never see it coming. Imagine the surprise your players will feel that it probably started there, in one of those fields of battle. after the first zombie – perhaps a sickly old lady who they Perhaps it happened in Mechanicsville, or Gaines’s Mill, or even assumed was mere campaign dressing – buries her teeth into the Savage’s Station – nobody could say for sure. There were soft leather boot of one of your players. Imagine the horror whispers and tales, even then, of dead men rising up and bolting they’ll feel as the High Noon Duel becomes even more than toward not only foe, but even friend, with a pained, hungered another epic gunfight, as The Afflicted swarm the dueling look on their faces.

Load more