Its all in Who You Know?

Happy (Not) End of the World everyone!

...Which is probably for the best anyway as my Zombie Plan is crap. ;) Curiously enough, this is also my dad's birthday so that would have been really rough.

Anyhoo I got to thinking about my upcoming ATZ:BFFOTZ game and the concept of "Loaded" PEFs. For those who don't have Final Fade-Out, its the idea of putting pregenerated gangs or survivor groups on the Potential Enemy Forces (PEFs) table so you might have recurring NPCs in the campaign. Which is a good idea IMO and I'm glad its available...and will be one of the FFO rules I import into my ATZ game.

But it got me to thinking. Since most ATZ games are generally based on the "Star" being the player themselves (even if an idealized player), then perhaps the "Loaded" concept should be taken one step further. That is, having a chance of running into people you know, either friends, foes, or general individuals you know in Real Life(TM).

How would you do this? Give a chance that any NPC you run into is one of these folks, and then have a "Who ya know" table to roll on? Would you maybe use the Zombie rule of by rolling doubles the zombie is someone you know? A third method altogether?

Zombie Chow

PS: One of my followers pointed out today that the URL of this blog could be read as "Those whore main". :P  Thanks Tony! I wonder how many people have come here looking for a porn site?

ZC

Game 5 "In Search of Buzz", part 2

We rejoin the small band of survivors in their semi-epic quest!

 

Turn 16

Survivors 3 Zombies 2 Kid 1

Everyone else fights zombies! Michael moves to melee while Sebastian keeps firing.

Kaylee fast moves to kid and wins Meet and Greet, with the kid joining the group for the rest of the encounter. Michael melees a zombie and gets an Obviously Dead; leaving 2. The zombie from KFC starts to move toward the group at the intersection.

Turn 17

Survivors: 6 Zombies: 5

Nobody goes

Turn 18

Survivors:4  Zombies: 3

Kaylee with the kid moves to rejoin the group. Lisa and Michael returns to the group in the intersection. The zombie from KFC tromps onward towards the intersection.

Turn 19

Survivors: 3 Zombies: 3

The zombie from the south charges the group. The kid starts to scream, and will continue until rallied (acts as 3 gunshots for zombie generation). Michael rallies the kid.

Sebastian shoots at the charging zombie and misses both shots. Zombie enters melee with Sebastian.

No zombies generated

Turn 20

Survivors: 6 Zombies: 3

No (un)living zombies on board, so nobody moves.

Turn 21

Survivors: 1 Zombies: 6

Still determined to find Buzz, the ggroup moves toward the KFC building. Michael and Kaylee enter the KFC and find a zombie. Michael takes a shot but misses as the zombie is in cover. No zombie is generated from the shot. Kaylee stays by Michael to give melee cover in case of a charge.

Turn 22

Survivors: 2 Zombies: 3

The zombie attacks by charge. Michael gets a fire before melee and misses horribly. Kaylee has 3+1 die for outnumber. Zombie is quickly killed with an Obviously Dead result. Kaylee is quite the zombie smasher with that bat of hers.

No resources are found, and of course no Buzz. Fortunately, no zombies are generated by Michael’s crappy shooting.

Turn 23

Survivors: 4 Zombies: 3

Now the group decides to keep looking, and now decide to check out the apartments. Maybe Lisa’s father took shelter there? As there are no zombies on the board, their turn is skipped.

Turn 24

Survivors: 5 Zombies: 5

The team continues to apartments at section 6. Still no zombies on board.

Turn 25

Survivors: 5 Zombies: 2

The team moves to the front of the apartments, with Michael and Kaylee entering the ground floor. Since its multiple stories (3), I decide each floor will be equal to one area for searching. The ground floor is vacant.

Turn 26

Survivors: 1 Zombies: 1

Random Event! It comes up as the Drive By van as noted in ATZ Haven. Since there are no specific rules in Haven about where the encounter starts, I decide to use the zombie placement table as to where the van enters LOS. It comes up as East, so I have the van enter the board from the east road right next to the apartment parking lot (!) Their movement allows them to come right up to the rest of the group outside the apartments. Ack!

As Lisa is a Star too, her dice are used for Insight. This results in 2 successes for Drive-Byers, with Lisa getting only 1 success. So the gangers fire first. The Ganger in the back opens the side door and fires his shotgun, but gets an out of ammo result. Unfortunately this applies to subsequent rolls so he at least gets the first shot off at Lisa and the kid. Lisa covers the kid and take an Out of the Fight result. Sebastian returns fire but hits nothing. He literally can’t hit the van right in front of him? No wonder he left the police force!

There are 2 zombies generated, 1 North of the shot so I’m saying its coming down from the 2^nd story of apartments. The other comes in from the east table edge…maybe following the van?

Turn 27

Survivors: 5 Zombies:  2 Gangers 4

Michael, no doubt hearing the shot and Lisa’s scream,  rushes outside to see what’s happened. Kaylee does as well, and grabs the kid and pulls him back into the building; which I treat as equal to Rescuing Wounded in the ATZ rules. She gets 1 success and so pulls the little scamp to safety.

Sebastian fires two shots at driver, and hits with 1 shot despite cover. Driver is Obviously Dead!. Michael shoots at passenger and Shotgun dude, and both hit. The passenger guy in front seat is Obviously Dead, while shotgun dude in the back is Knocked Down. Shotgun guy fails his Recover from Knockdown test.

The apartment zombie goes either for Michael (1-3) or Kaylee+kid (4-6). I roll a d6 and he charges Michael. Despite a rear attack, the zombie loses and is Knocked Down.

The Zombie from the East hill moves towards the road and the apartments. Despite all the gunfire, no zombies are generated?

Turn 28

Survivors:6 (1)  Zombies: 6  (2)

Yet another Random Event! This time I get one of my home designs, a News Chopper arrives to take pictures of events. They will stay hovering over the group’s position (and drawing zombies as car engine) for the next 4 activations. Wheee. Right out the gate 4 zombies are generated; two from apartments (North) and 2 from the hill at section 9 (East).

Michael recovers Lisa and Sebastian clears the van of bodies. The van engine cut off, and I was using a d6 after the driver was killed (1-2 engine is cut off, 3-4 engine stays on but van is still in park, 5-6 van rolls forward randomly) and get a 1. Michael shoots zombie coming around from the hill and gets YET ANOTHER Knocked Down result. No zombie from that shot is generated…which is good considering all the ones beginning to close in on the group!

No Z generated

 

 

Turn 29

Survivors:3  Zombies: 4

The 2 apartment zombies come outside, the KD zombie stands up, and the 2 on the hill move toward the road and apartments.

 
The !@#$ van refuses to start! Typical!

Turn 30

Survivors: 4 Zombies: 2

At last, the van starts. As Lisa is OOF, Michael decides that Buzz is on his own and insists they get back to base so Lisa could get medical attention.

 

 

 

Game is Over: as a result of the events, Kaylee is now Rep 4, but is the only one to increase in Rep.

 

So ends my last pure ATZ: Better Dead Than Zed game. Game 6 is already generated as a attack on the group's base and will see the inclusion of FFO rules.

Zombie Chow