Friday, June 22, 2018

SURVIVE THIS!! Zombies! 2nd Edition

Kickstarter backers of Survive This!! Zombies 2nd edition have their pdfs. The material is similar to what was found in the 1st edition, but has been greatly expanded up and made to come more in line with the current Survive This!! titles, such as Dark Places & Demogorgons and the upcoming Vigilante City. Production wise, there's a lot that similar and a lot that's changed. To summarize, the game is a combination of White Box style D&D with some 5th edition flair, put through the lens of zombie fiction.

Much of the original artwork has been reused, but now it's in color. There are also several new illustrations by Shaman's Stock Art. I really like his stuff and this consistency really helps unify the book.

Instead of 6 classes, we're given 13 . The classes are:
  • First Responder
  • Fixer
  • Hunter
  • Inmate
  • Leader
  • Mercenary
  • Mother To Be
  • Scavenger
  • Scientist
  • Slayer
  • Tracker
  • Biker Scout*
  • Road Warrior*
The * classes are optional villain classes. Of my favorites is the Inmate. They roll a dark secret upon creation. This will always have some detriment, but may also have benefits. It also may lead to zombie sex... This class is unique in the fact that you could actually be making a secret villain that's really going to mess with the party. The Mother To Be is a fantastic addition because it's a zombie movie trope that's never been done in a game (to my knowledge). Other characters want to protect her and get bonuses to rolls when defending her (plus they're really good at ranged attacks). Finally the Scientist is worth noting just because they get a random chance to cure the plague as they level up. 

The foes and rules are the same as the 1st edition release, again with some additions and revisions. There are plenty of antagonists for pc's, both zombie, animal, and human. The book ends with a percentile chart of basic adventure hooks.

There isn't really a setting for the game, so I've been toying with some. Even though they're technically vampires, something based off of Stake Land would be amazing. Something modeled after Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead would be really sweet too. The optional villain classes would be perfect for PC's. I could even come up with a lower powered Shepherd of the Dead pc class. There are other ideas that work well two, like some of the communities from The Walking Dead (like the prison and the Governor's community), and something like the Monroeville Mall. A southern swampy setting like Left 4 Dead 2 would be great too. A theme park would be a cool setting also. Hell, I'll figure out something, I'm sure.

While I love All Flesh Must Be Eaten, I think this will be my new go-to zombie game. It's simple, it's modular (if you add other elements of Survive This!!), and its a solid familiar rule set. The game is currently only available to backers, but I'll make a post when it goes live to the public.


2 comments:

  1. Thanks again Sir for all your kind words!

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    1. Thank you to you and the others folks that put this together. It's a great book and I can't wait to run it.

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