New Player with Questions!!

You are on your own. The Army is MIA and our government is gone! There are no communications of any kind. Cities and towns have gone dark, and zombies fill the streets. The dead have risen and it would seem to be the end of the world. Help me, Mommy!

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GaredBattlespike
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Re: New Player with Questions!!

Unread post by GaredBattlespike »

Greetings!

Sorry this took so long to get a reply, but Real Life takes it's toll...As to your questions:

Answers!
1) City or Area Maps are important to the extent that you NEED them. If everyone has a good memory for the roads/buildingfs in the area, then no, maps will NOT be needed. If you are setting your Campaign in a city/location that is new to anyone in your group, then maps will be needed. Combat Maps can be useful too, however, many times the situation will move a bit to quickly for thew combat map to be all that effective for the whole combat-still, it IS a very useful tool in RPG's as the Players and the GM need a clear veiw of what's going on, to avoid confusing everyone.

2) Campaigns and thier duration; I really only put limits like a single goal for the Campaign if the game is running at a Convention or some such thing. Otherwise, we just play the game with the same Characters (PC's), so that gained Experience Points (XP's) will really do some good. If you are just starting out, perhaps you might state a sinle goal, as you mentioned, but then allow the game to continue if all agree. Thus, if the group of PC's get to a "safe" island and clear it out and clean it up, maybe the group wants to heaad back into the mess of the mainland to help others (Non-Player Characters: NPC's).

Good Gaming!
"Save ARCHIE, save the world..."
-----------------------------
-Sigging of rungok-
-Scenario 2-
(Demon 1):Woah, the hell happened to you?
(Demon 2):got my ass kicked by some guy with a knife and a handgun
(Demon 1):What? you gotta be kidding me!
(Demon 2):Thats what i was thinking...

anapuna wrote:
i rarely play a mage, but when i do... i do what GaredBattlespike does.

or i am a TW.
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GaredBattlespike
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Location: In my NG-X9 Samson Power Armor

Re: New Player with Questions!!

Unread post by GaredBattlespike »

Greetings!

1) A Combat Map is simply a small scale (often hand drawn) map used to mark the positions of the important terrain features, and all combatants. Yes the grenade toss is a perfect example of needing a combat map. If the group is driving down a highway, and decides to strafe a few zombies, then a combat map will likely take sooooooooo long to make compared to how useful it would be (it IS just a simple thing to tell the Players the estimated ranges to the zombies andlet them decide to shoot or not) that most group would NOT bother for a quick encounter.

2) Maps as campaign plot hooks? Neat idea. Been used plenty of times by plenty of groups because it works fairly well. Dead Island? Is that a video game or another RPG? Either way if you know the maps better than the Players do, it should be cool. This is especially true if you can keep the Players from knowing that it's from Dead Island-because then they will not know ahead of time where to find anything at first. Just like real life.

Good luck!
"Save ARCHIE, save the world..."
-----------------------------
-Sigging of rungok-
-Scenario 2-
(Demon 1):Woah, the hell happened to you?
(Demon 2):got my ass kicked by some guy with a knife and a handgun
(Demon 1):What? you gotta be kidding me!
(Demon 2):Thats what i was thinking...

anapuna wrote:
i rarely play a mage, but when i do... i do what GaredBattlespike does.

or i am a TW.
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azazel1024
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Comment: So an ogre, an orc and a gnome walk in to a bar...
Location: Columbia, MD

Re: New Player with Questions!!

Unread post by azazel1024 »

Dead is dead in this situation. I don't play with the megaversal system with DR, other than the elements that are included. So no porting over psionics of magic.

So if you go in to a coma, its the straight chances in the book with medical care of possibly getting better. You don't roll a successful save vs coma/death....well your character is dead.

GM narrates walk. Character speed is equal to SPD*22/15 in MPH. IE a SPD of 22 = 15mph, SPD 11 = 7.5mph, etc. Traveling long distances is going to be at a walking pace, no matter the speed of the character. Especially if they are carrying a bunch of stuff. 2-3mph on decent level ground, and no having to hide from zombies, bandits, etc.

I had thought one or more of the books had random encounter tables, but come to think they didn't rise to the level of "rate of encounters".

I'd just create your own. Without more detail, I'd say rural areas there is a 01-05% chance of encountering 1d8 zombies every mile. Semi-rural area (like exurbs) 01-10% chance per mile of encountering 1d20 zombies per mile. Suburbs 01-30% chance of 2d10 zombies per mile. Edge of a city or downtown small town 01-70% chance of 4d8 zombies per mile. resdential area of a city 01-92% chance of 1d4x10 zombies per mile. Downtown of a big city 99% chance of 2d6x10 zombies per mile.

I'd also figure out some kind of table to roll on for every house, apartment, store, etc that you look in.

I generally roll up each of those as well as an overall number for a housing development, village, town, resort, etc. So if I roll up say 40 zombies in a town, I'll figure half are wandering the streets in some number of groups (or individually) somewhere in the town and the other half in buildings and then just roll for each building entered until all the "in building" zombies are accounted for.
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Epically
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Re: New Player with Questions!!

Unread post by Epically »

Hey mate. Welcome to the Reign!

In regards to maps, you don't have to be exact either. If there's a piece of story you want to incorporate, just add it into the map.
For instance, in one of my games I had a nuclear power plant. Australia doesn't even have them. Well, as far as I'm aware anyway.
Just need to tell the players that it's there, and if they lived in that area, they would be aware of it.

The current game I'm running is set at the start of the outbreak in NYC. I gave the players a tourist guide that I found online, which has a basic map, and hot spots. That's it.
I marked on my own map places which I as the GM will know about, such as fire stations, police stations, malls, events, NPCs, etc.

Don't get too technical. Players don't want to think so much. It's good if you incorporate a few puzzles here and there, but not too often.
You don't have to put extreme detail into describing the surroundings unless they are pertinent to the game. Like if they entered a house, everyone knows what the inside of a house generally looks like. However, saying something like, "You notice an overturned couch, and judging by the lack of dust build up, you might say this happened recently." is a plot point for the game.

When players drive, rather than making players take driving checks, I make them take fatigue checks (PE check) every two hours. If they fail and continue driving, then they take a driving check at whatever their base skill level is at.

In regards to player's dying, don't get upset if players die. We have a saying around here; GMs don't kill players. Players kill players.
There's only 3 circumstances that I allow charactors to die:
1. If a player kills another player. (Fairly, as in the other player did something to agitate the other charactor)
2. If the player does something REALLY stupid. (Example; one of my players threw a rock at an elephant which charged him)
3. If something extremly unlucky happens. (Like excessive bad die rolling from the player, and good ones from me)

I think I got a little off topic on some things there, but hey, it's 2am, and I've had not much sleep lol.

Hopefully some of these tips can help, and if you have any questions, regardless of how dumb you may think they are, ask away, dude. It's a great community here with some very helpful and intelligent people.
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Oberoth
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Re: New Player with Questions!!

Unread post by Oberoth »

Horizon911 wrote:Hey everyone, I just picked up the Dead Reign books today. I'm a huge Zombie Apocalypse enthusiast and I can't wait to play. I'm relatively new to this style of play, but am a fast learner. I apologize in advance if my questions are overly noobish, but please humor me:

1) Do any of you recommend making a map of any sort? Not for a game piece to move about, but more for your players' reference? I've read in other posts some people using small maps and some using actual road maps of Denver, CO in some instances. I'm wondering what the benefits/negatives are to this, or if it is actually the norm to use a map, real or created.

Maps are always great to have. Even the most basic map adds to the gaming experience.It also depends on what type of gaming environment the players will be in. If it's table-top, you will be able to describe things fairly quickly to the players orally, so maps will be needed less frequently. Perhaps for combat rounds only; or to define something specifically. If it's a Play-By-Post or on line game, maps will be needed more often to help the GM and players stay on the same page.

2) Do you recommend defining a clear goal or 'end game' up front? Let them perhaps know they're seeking some type of cure or viable escape from whatever land you have created? Or do you kind of just let them start and play based on the first book, let the action go where it may, and end when interest is lost?

As a GM you will likely have a story or two already prepared for the campaign. If the PC's are new to the setting or unfamiliar with the core rules, go easy on them before you spring your big story. Let the PC's interact with each other and define their roles before sending them off on a big quest. Build your story over a period of time. Depending on their initial load-out the PC's may require certain things to progress through the story. Weapons, food, water, vehicles... The list goes on. Remember that as humans the PC's need the basics to survive, and on a long quest they may need to detour from the main story to keep progressing. All sorts of side quests and/or traps could be sprung along the way to the end game. I wouldn't reveal to much all at once. Just leave bread crumbs out for them to find. Make the players start asking questions as characters.



Thanks!

NP
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