Dead Reign

[DangerDwarf]

Most of you know that Deign Reign is Palladium's latest addition to the Zombie Apocalypse craze and may be wondering if it is worth picking up...

Hell yeah it is.

It's a post-apocalyptic S.D.C setting using Palladium's rule system with some minor tweaks to it.

As pointed out in another thread here, the DR zombies are tough. This is a game of survival more than it is a zombie squish fest. If your characters make a foolhardy stand thinking they will deliver a righteous zombie ass-kicking to the shambling horde? They'll likely end up shambling around looking for the next group of overconfident PC's with which to fuel their newly undead existence.

I enjoyed the "survival guide" nature the book was written in and thought it touched on some pretty interesting stuff. The setting is cool to me too with no one knowing the real cause of the zombie apocalypse (the book lists the top 5 rumors).

The book has a decent array of zombies for you plus non-undead enemies to throw at a party. Cool beans there, especially the Retro-Savages (think evil amish!).

Like I said, this is a Palladium game and uses the Palladium rules. I know that'll be a sticking point for some, but I don't really have a problem with the system and never had. Especially in a SDC setting. System works pretty good and DR adds little nuances for avoiding zombie grasps, staggering the critters to escape, hacking off limbs, etc. All good stuff.

As an added bonus, the DR character sheet isn't one that I hate right off the bat. Looks pretty good and functional for a Palladium sheet.

Bottom line though, for $22.95 there's no reason not to check this game out.

[Julian Grimm]

Hmm I may have to. It would be the first Pallidum thing that seriously grabs my interest.
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[DangerDwarf]

It's pretty sweet JG and definitely worth a look. As much as I love Rifts, I like Palladium's SDC worlds better. The system plays a lot cooler that way to me.

My wife is rolling up her character now. The Palladium character creation process is definitely the stinker part of the system to me.

But, thats what she is doing and not me.
I'm having fun detailing a section of post-apocalyptic, zombie infested, Dallas.

[Omote]

One of the cool aspects of Dead Reign is, while it is a fully functional setting in it's own right, it is easily adaptable to play out any zombie setting at all. The stats for different types of zombies are spelled out. Pick and choose what you need to play your style of zombie apocolypse!

It's defintely one of Palladium's best.

As for character creation, lots of people have a problem with this for Palladium. It's understandible as skills take a long while to figger' out. I;ve always liked that part of a few of Pally's games though. I like to create a character from the ground up, who is not a wuss from the get-go. As I create the character my imagination really gets into the character and helps with roleplaying. I can visualize the character before he got to this point in the game by selecting skills and whatnot. I certainly love doing this for certain other Palladium games. IDK, maybe I'm crazy.

-O
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[DangerDwarf]

My dislike is the length of time it takes to make a character. I do think it is kinda fun and the end result gives you a customized and kick-ass character, it just takes so long.

It is cool how you end up getting character ideas as you build though. my wife sat down with only the idea that she was going to make a Shepard of the Damned. By the time she finished she had a fully realized and fleshed out character.

And one thing I always thought, Palladium Alignment > D&D Alignment.

[serleran]

When you say it uses the Palladium system, does that mean all the nuances, such as the "all attacks with a roll above 4 are hits -- if the opponent has armor, the result must be above the AR to inflict damage directly to the character; otherwise, damage is sustained by the armor," the confluence of various skills such as boxing and gymnastics which improve your character and are, therefore, always taken even when they don't fit the character concept at all, the XP (mentioned because it is unusual compared to a D&D-based game) and alignment system (noted primarily because there are no "neutral" ones) and so on and so forth? I mean, I imagine it would not be hard to run it with any of the Megaverse... but, I have a particular desire to run some Dead Reign with Ninjas and Superspies.
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Serl's Corner

[Omote]

Wow. With N&S you might kick a few zombie heads off, no doubt. But no Zanji Shinjinkin-Ryu master is going to survive the undead mob. Though, if teh Zanji master and his copius amounts of APM can down a zomb with nothing more then a katana, this may be a smart move.
-O
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[GameOgre]

Just picked this up last weekend! Asome book! I wanted something a little more rough than AFMBE and this is it.

I still find the character creation just plain stupid but that seems the only pothole so far.
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[maasenstodt]

The rules for head shots are ridiculous, but it's not a bad title and, if you're a zombie horror fan, its worth picking up.
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