Dead Reign... without the zombies?

[Eric42]

So, I have this question for everyone. Is there anyone else out there that likes the idea of using most of what Dead Reign has without using the zombies part of it? To some, I am sure that this defeats the point and purpose of the game, sure. But really, what do you get when you take away the zombies from the Dead Reign setting? You get an (post-)apocalyptic world in which the players would be trying to survive. Anybody else love the idea of a Palladium-driven post-apocalyptic game without the zombies? Of course, all new lore and story would have to be written for such a setting, but that'd be fine with me and may even start on my own personal version of the idea, but I'd love to see what others have to say about this idea.

[Grazzik]

I have tried running a couple campaigns of that nature - depending what kind of doomsday event, you can end up playing a game similar in style to a wide range of other post-apoc games like Twilight 2K or Atomic Highway. It comes down to the creativity of the GM and the interests of the players. The modular aspect of PB game mechanics make them well suited to carving off game conceits to get to a very base survival game. I've even allowed adding in low level psionics (not magic) just to add a bit of spice - like an "X-files" element.

With Dead Reign, taking away the zombies doesn't detract anything from the mechanics or even the setting... you still have desperate people willing to kill you for possibly the last tin of beans and they can be worse than mostly mindless undead to deal with. One scenario that a PC group came across was the need to trade some found supplies with an enclave for fuel to get to a destination further on. However, on approach the enclave seemed to be a murderous cult based on the evidence presented. PCs got ready to take some baddies down. Turned out that the cult had been overthrown and their replacement kept the appearance up to stave off rival cults looking to expand territory. So, switch from kick ass to relationship building. Problem was the found supplies included shelf-stable food in packaging showing it came from a local eatery, and despite good relations being built, members of the enclave saw this as theft of their own resources in their territory. Switch to PCs running for the border...

So, no zombies, but lots of twists and turns as human drama plays out over "people in their feelin's". Even if you keep everything including the zombie backstory, you can always set it at a time when the mysterious cause of the zombies just as mysteriously disappears. Imagine scenarios of a zombie horde a million strong just falling to the ground and rotting - what could come of that concentration of decay? A pestilence? Scavengers - both human and animal - looking for resources amongst the putrefaction? Dynamic shifts in allegiances between survivor groups that had been looking to attack/hide/run from the horde? Regardless, from there you now have a decimated world of deeply traumatized people to tell stories about.

Bottom line - go for it, don't plan to spend too much time on it at first, but if the first couple sessions works for you and your players, just keep going.

[darthauthor]

Go for it