Zombie Equipment

Hunin · Post by **Hunin** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:44 pm

Here is some equipment I have made for a Zombie apocalypse game.
Heavy Chainsaw

R3 S8 T3 V3

Combat, Melee +3, Close-Range only, Bulky, Durability +2, SFX: Armor Crushing, 5 Wounds
Armor Crushing: The chainsaw eats through armor like butter. If armor lacks Reinforced Special Effect, deal 2 durability damage.
Improvised Club

R1 S5 T0 V0

Melee +2, Close-Range only, 2 Wounds
Crowbar

R2 S4 T0 V1

Melee+2, Close-Range only, Feats of Strength +4, 1 Wound
Gernades

R0 S1 T4 V3

Combat, Short Range, Shooting +2, SFX: Area Effect, SFX: Combust, SFX: Volatile, SFX: Reduced Damage to Zombie (1 Wound), 5 Wounds
Reduced Damage to Zombie: Zombies are only vulnerable to a particular type of damage to the head or torso. When the item is used, it is so ineffective, the zombie only takes a small amount of damage.
Axe

R0 S6 T1 V1

Combat, Melee +4, Close-Range only, 4 Wounds

What do you guys think?
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Mors Ultima Ratio

They give you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.

-- Tennesse Williams, Glass Menagerie

paladin2019 · Post by **paladin2019** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:41 pm

Grenades, like all explosives, are designed to do considerable damage through concussive force. However, grenades in the open are too small for this to matter. So, I would also ignore the reduced damage if the zombie is somehow in contact with the grenade when it detonates; it's attached to the zombie soldier's kit, the character stuffs it inside the zombie's rotting carcass, etc. You might expand this to the grenade detonating in an enclosed area to get the chunky salsa effect.

(Is the latter already covered under general explosive rules?)

cheeplives · Post by **cheeplives** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:28 am

paladin2019 wrote:
Grenades, like all explosives, are designed to do considerable damage through concussive force. However, grenades in the open are too small for this to matter. So, I would also ignore the reduced damage if the zombie is somehow in contact with the grenade when it detonates; it's attached to the zombie soldier's kit, the character stuffs it inside the zombie's rotting carcass, etc. You might expand this to the grenade detonating in an enclosed area to get the chunky salsa effect.

(Is the latter already covered under general explosive rules?)

That would fall under the "Critical Strike" rules, if you ask me. Make a harder difficulty check and do "critical damage" rather than normal.
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Hunin · Post by **Hunin** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:46 am

To make the gernades easier to hit a zombie, I might create a SFX where zombies ignore the area effect SFX of the gernade. This should allow the player to hit a zombie with the gernade but cause no wounds to zombies in the surrounding area, which is the main idea for the exception.

So this is the gernade:
Gernades

R0 S1 T4 V3

Combat, Short Range, Shooting +2, SFX: Area Effect Except Zombies, SFX: Combust, SFX: Volatile, 5 Wounds
Area Effect Except Zombies: Zombies are only vulnerable to direct damage and won't be affected by the concussive force of gernades. So zombies ignore the area effect rule.
_________________
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Mors Ultima Ratio

They give you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.

-- Tennesse Williams, Glass Menagerie

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 5:11 am

Shouldn't the blast knock the zombie backwards, or possibly even remove their ability to walk / might turn them into "zombie bits"? Making them completely immune seems out of whack.
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cheeplives · Post by **cheeplives** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 9:39 am

serleran wrote:
Shouldn't the blast knock the zombie backwards, or possibly even remove their ability to walk / might turn them into "zombie bits"? Making them completely immune seems out of whack.

Well, I hate to call in physics into a game that has Zombies and laser pistols, but I really doubt simple frag grenades carry enough concussive force to push back the mass of a human.

Actually, the statement that grenades rely on concussive force for damage is erroneous. Most grenades use a small amount of explosive to throw chunks of shrapnel across a wide area at a high speed, doing most of their damage through the shrapnel rather than the concussion. The few grenades that use concussion are mostly disorienting devices (like Flash-bangs) since you just can't pack that much explosive into a small, hand-held, and rugged device...
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discreteinfinity.com -- my little corner of the internet.

Author of StarSIEGE: Event Horizon -- Available now from Troll Lord Games!

Hunin · Post by **Hunin** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:56 pm

cheeplives wrote:
Actually, the statement that grenades rely on concussive force for damage is erroneous. Most grenades use a small amount of explosive to throw chunks of shrapnel across a wide area at a high speed, doing most of their damage through the shrapnel rather than the concussion.

The use of shrapnel to damage targets is why I removed the area of effect for zombies. I don't think several pieces of shrapnel which would kill a normal human, would stop or even slow an undead zombie.

I do think the zombie will be effected by the initial explosion of the grenade. Whether the explosion radius is one zombie or multiple could be up for debate. I assumed the zombies didn't pack tightly together, so the explosion would only wound one. Maybe if the zombies were a horde and used the horde rules, the grenade would wound more than one.
_________________
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Mors Ultima Ratio

They give you illusion that has the appearance of truth. I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.

-- Tennesse Williams, Glass Menagerie

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 1:59 pm

It's probably just me, but I like the idea of a zombie being blown into little pieces by a grenade, and each of those little pieces, like the hands, feet, jaw, all moving around trying to nibble on brains... so, I'd probably have it not actually kill a zombie, but turn it into bits. I suppose a grenade, placed properly, could destroy the zombie completely, like if it was forced into the mouth and removed the head.
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Sir Osis of Liver · Post by **Sir Osis of Liver** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:33 pm

Hrmmm...I guess I never thought of the origins of a crawling claw as being from a bigger undead that was blown to bits. Might add for a nice bit of imagery in explaining a room full of crawling claws.