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Hmm... This isn't a new idea but I don't know of anyone trying it in game. I think it would draw a crowd of them but they need to have prey in sight to moan. It would be a good distraction to allow the PC's in or out of a place if the recording was timed or activated via wire or wireless radio. Something in the order of a dozen minutes or more probably, until the crowd realized there was no prey around. Would also depend on how loud it was. If your in a convenience store and some Zed's have wandered near your exit, it would be nice to have a moan timed a couple blocks away so you could get out.

I would say as long as the batteries last, the zombies converge on the moan itself, even if its one moan as long as the sound is running they should stick around. The same would be if you recorded someone yelling or had a contraption rigged to bang on a door. Now a thinker could easily draw the hoard away or smash the thing making the sound.

Those pesky thinkers...

Cambull wrote:One of my players want to record a zombie moan.....

Q: will a recording of a moan cause more zombies to moan and converge to the spot of the recording ?

if so

Q.2: how long will they look ?

While the zombies themselves are of course supernatural, their moan isn't described as anything but a normal, physics-based sound source and as such, should work just as well as the real thing (provided the moans in question are recorded with high enough sound quality)in every way.


To answer Q2, I would say (house rule?) that these moans would work for the same duration that a real moan would.


BUT HERE'S THE THING TO CONSIDER FROM A GAMEPLAY POINT OF VIEW:

Allowing every Tom, Dick, and Harry to just saunter into any city they want, armed with a few moan recordings to herd the Zeds everywhere they want, could and probably would ruin the atmosphere of the game.
I could also completely side with your GM if (s)he ruled that the moan is supernatural in nature, and therefore can't be duplicated electronically even though it would sound the same to anyone listening.

What sort of game are you running? Pure strategic? Or horror?

The more towards horror, the more that some rational method of dealing with the horror just wont work. That's why it's horror, not hope.

cornholioprime wrote:

Cambull wrote:One of my players want to record a zombie moan.....

Q: will a recording of a moan cause more zombies to moan and converge to the spot of the recording ?

if so

Q.2: how long will they look ?

While the zombies themselves are of course supernatural, their moan isn't described as anything but a normal, physics-based sound source and as such, should work just as well as the real thing (provided the moans in question are recorded with high enough sound quality)in every way.


To answer Q2, I would say (house rule?) that these moans would work for the same duration that a real moan would.


BUT HERE'S THE THING TO CONSIDER FROM A GAMEPLAY POINT OF VIEW:

Allowing every Tom, Dick, and Harry to just saunter into any city they want, armed with a few moan recordings to herd the Zeds everywhere they want, could and probably would ruin the atmosphere of the game.
I could also completely side with your GM if (s)he ruled that the moan is supernatural in nature, and therefore can't be duplicated electronically even though it would sound the same to anyone listening.

If the moan is supernatural, obviously the sound alone would draw them to investigate anyway. Perhaps sounding more like a human moan to them, rather than a zombie moan. All you really need to draw zombies in somewhere would be some suitably human sounding noises recorded and played back at the right volume. Music, voices etc...

So yes, every Tom and Dick could just saunter into any city they want, armed with a few moan/human recordings and herd Zed anywhere they want; as long as there are no specials or death priests to stop them.
Fat chances of that happening.

Still a difficult thing to do under the circumstances.

Oberoth wrote:If the moan is supernatural, obviously the sound alone would draw them to investigate anyway. Perhaps sounding more like a human moan to them, rather than a zombie moan. All you really need to draw zombies in somewhere would be some suitably human sounding noises recorded and played back at the right volume. Music, voices etc...

So yes, every Tom and Dick could just saunter into any city they want, armed with a few moan/human recordings and herd Zed anywhere they want; as long as there are no specials or death priests to stop them.
Fat chances of that happening.

Still a difficult thing to do under the circumstances.

Remember that noise wakes them up....MAYBE.... and sends them forth to investigate.....MAYBE....but The Moan sends them in with the definite expectation of a meal, guns a-blazin.'

That's why I wouldn't mind if a GM ruled The Moan to be supernatural and therefore unable to be duplicated.

Cambull wrote:TY very much for you input it helps a lot ty for you posts

Reward your players. People might think its a big cheap but I think it is a great idea and should be rewarded. Obviously they will go to the moan until they find the source of the soul and eventually try eating or smashing it when they try to get into the device making the noise where the food is. Just make sure the players have to get good and close to record a moan for it to work. None of that huddling across the street crap. It needs to be up close and personal for it to be effective.

It should work. Perhaps long term exposure to this Recording has an ill-effect upon the the listener? Madness? The Euphio Question? hmmmm?

cornholioprime wrote:Remember that noise wakes them up....MAYBE.... and sends them forth to investigate.....MAYBE....but The Moan sends them in with the definite expectation of a meal, guns a-blazin.'

That's why I wouldn't mind if a GM ruled The Moan to be supernatural and therefore unable to be duplicated.

Not maybe Cornho. Yes sound WILL wake them up, and yes ANY sound WILL send them to investigate. There is no grey area here.

From pg. 35 of the DR main book.

A walking dead that hears noise will investigate, and all zombies recognize the sound of human voices.

Furthermore, it never states that the moan is supernatural. However it does hint that the moan is special (Note: does not say that it cannot be replicated). All it says is that zombies are "especially attuned" to the moan and can triangulate it's point of origin and distance within 30 seconds.

So would a recording of a single moan cause a convergence? I would say no. But it would send any zombie within earshot to investigate it's source (witch is a convergence of sorts too). A recording of a GROUP of moans may work because during a convergence when the zombie has seen prey it will moan, so any zombie in sight will be moaning too, adding to the intensity of the group moan and therefore the convergence.