Zombies don’t have a morale check.

Zombies don’t feel. Why is that fact important? Modern weaponry is predominately designed to instil fear into a population. Most of the United State’s current weaponry has been developed to deliver a pinpoint attack with minimal peripheral damage. Smart bombs destroy confined targets as designated by GPS and laser designation.

The arsenal does have weapons delivering wide scale destruction. Those don’t matter. The stockpile of weapons can never be enough when the force to be countered lacks a survival instinct. Shock and awe are great buzzwords when fighting a population who can be scared into not responding. Zombies don’t care. So ninety percent of a group is killed? The other 10% keep marching forward intent upon feasting on the deliciousness of their kin.

Undead hold no concept of civilization or human constraints. Bombs can rend them along with an orphanage. Humans will shudder at the loss of the children. Zombies will march along blissfully unaware. Unless a succulent toddler is detected. The survivors will break upon the rocks of their own atrocities.

As survivors pile up the death toll outside a walled bastion, the zombies will keep marching forward. The dead zombies are nothing, were nothing to them. Feet atop exploded heads, the ghouls will march forward. The dead are nothing more than ground to walk upon. Ribs, femurs and skulls are a conveniently provided ladder toward the ultimate goal.

Before, AFTER: Ponderings of a ROTWORLD Campagin

Humans once split time into two domains: B.C. and A.D. Sticking with history, we have again split time. Now we simple refer to Before or After. Exactly when Before stopped and After began depends on where you were when the dead started standing up. The outbreak was logarithmic. It started slow but within six or seven months it had circled the planet. Somewhere in that short span, After began for those who have survived.

The last shortwave news broadcast was over a month ago. News is a stretch. Mostly the man was repeating what he’d heard from others. Someone mentioned at least 5 billion souls had fallen. Over half of them had risen from death. Before, there were around 7 billion humans on Earth. Two billion humans versus 2.5 billion or more undead. Not good odds.

The United States was hit hard. Before, people lived in densely packed urban zones in temperate regions. Zombies thrive in regions where people cannot escape quickly. Like humans, they seem to prefer moderate temperatures. Those trapped in the metropolises of Before have long expired only to be reborn into a menace for the rest of us. Of the 300 million souls in the U.S., less than 10% remain. Likely far less.

The majority of the survivors were in the central regions and Alaska. States like Montana, Wyoming and others with small populations and large areas were less effected. Other areas with few large cities have had far fewer causalities. Suffice to say those who were mobile, more prepared for hardship, and willing to make unconscionable decisions are easier to find today. Those who chose to live in cities, had little food and water available, and were not prepared to exist without modern conveniences are now a minority. Survival requires grit. Being prepared and being capable of a bit of everything helps.

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ROTWORLD Now Available In Print

Goblinoid Games announced the availability of print version for ROTWORLD on Tuesday, the 15th. Print versions are available in either hard cover for $27.95 or perfect bound for $17.95 from Lulu.

If you are unfamiliar with ROTWORLD, the item description states:

ROTWORLD is a game of survival horror against undead flesh eaters. This game uses the Action Table system, the same system featured in other games such as TIMEMASTER and Chill 1st edition, which were originally published by Pacesetter in the 1980s.

I also wrote a initial reaction to the game after a first reading, which provides additional information. Of course, most systems I enjoy end up with some form of random utility. In this case, its NPC’s with a modern bent useful for stating up expendables.

ROTWORLD NPC Updates

If there is code, there will be bugs. An earlier optimization of the generator code introduced a name / sex mismatch. Women were getting male names and vice versa. Small oversight on my part that is now corrected.

Additionally, I added in skill score calculations. Originally, I left the calculations out to not overly reveal the contents of the work. After some thought, adding the information will do little to reveal the underlying mechanics. More detail, more quickly makes a better utility. Luck is used as a PC rather than the fixed value suggested by the rules.

I still have a few more variations I want to add. Some obviously useful and others more tuning the data sources to the results to produce more realistic results.

Brewing Time & Some Miscellania

Let there be home brew. The weather has cooled off. Snow is falling. For me, that means brewing season is full swing. I could brew year around but the cooler fall and winter prompt me more than any other time of year. Perhaps the lack of daylight and looking forward to Old Guys Gaming provides the necessary spark.

I like a range of beers but for home brewing I lean toward porters and stouts. The first fall batch is an oatmeal stout. Of all stouts, oatmeal recipes make me salivate. I like the flavor profile — smooth, dark along with a shades of breakfasts from my childhood. When it comes to beer, I leave the experiments to occasional six-packs and brew masters. My recipes come in kit form from one of many home brew suppliers on the internet and local merchants. The stout is from the fine folks of Austin Homebrew Supply.

The next beers on tap for brewing is a porter. For some reason, a flavored one struck my fancy so it will be a Raspberry Porter. After reading through the reviews, the berry can be overwhelming so I will halve the contents called for the recipe. I want a hint of raspberry not a dominant presence. It still sounds tasty. Looking forward to trying it. #3 on the brewlist is a summer ale. I like the spice in Sam Adams Summer Ale. I brewed a clone last year which was pretty good. This year, I’m going for a Belgian style ale with similar highlights. Nothing crisper than a summer ale on a warm spring day.

Blog wise, I’m in the midst of cleaning out the most recent set of dead links. I’m also cleaning up a few generators which have no audience or I failed to finish. Those I purge will redirect to the original content providers, where possible. A few dangling posts associated with the same content will also be eliminated. Minor stuff but a few people may see items disappear they’ve used in the past.

Finally, I signed up for a game of ROTWORLD. The pre-generated character was targeted as a good ole boy / redneck. I modeled it after the coolest redneck I know. Ferocious attitude with a big heart. Looking forward to the game. The other players have generated great concepts as well so the party dynamic should be fantastic.

Character Portrait

That’s the “portrait” I used for Kenneth “Syrus” Halbert. If some fool snuck in my house and painted a door like that, I’d be pissed off at the world for a while. Syrus is chuck full of bad attitude but has a softer side as well. Should be entertaining to see how the gruff exterior meets the new reality… Syrus has the benefit of having some wheels. A Ford truck of unspecified nature. I picked this one.

Orange is the New Black

Too stereotyped? Could be. I’ll stick with my choices.

ROTWORLD NPC Generator

The coding bug caught up to me again. Over the last two days, I’ve been tinkering with a Non-Player Character generator for the ROTWORLD system. The generator focuses on the ROTWORLD system for attributes and skills but could be utilized for any modern-era game given the aggregate nature.

Notes and Issues

1. Currently, the generator produces a statistic for Luck even though NPC’s in the system do not have Luck (other than a base 50 for skill calculation).
2. The data is modern. More specifically, the underlying datasets are focused on the United States. Due to dataset binding, Nationality was replaced with Ethnicity.
3. Skill and Paranormal Talent scores are not generated. Doing so would negate the need to own the rule system.
4. Education and Profession generation is not coupled. Eventually, it will be fixed but for the moment, you can get drop outs with advanced medical careers.

I am leaning toward adding genre weighting for the underlying data and skills. For now, its functions sufficiently to meet my needs.

ROTWORLD – Gut Reaction

ROTWORLD Cover

Author: Daniel Proctor
Artist(s): Mark Allen, Daniel Cruger
Length: 64 Pages
Availability: PDF at RPGNow.

Introduction

ROTWORLD is a zombie apocalypse survival game. The game uses the Action Table mechanic throughout. ROTWORLD does not feature a particular zombie type or setting. The exact nature of the flesh eaters and cause of the uprising are left open to the Corpse Master (CM). The book is split into 3 general sections: Character Creation, Action & Combat Resolution, and Setting Information.

General Thoughts

I was not familiar with the Action Table as a mechanic other than in passing. As I began to read through the game, I kept expecting the actual table to be covered early on. Instead, it is included at the end of the book. I had read about 1/3 of the game and kept getting the urge to flip to the table. After the thought crossed my mind for the 3rd or 4th time, I decided instead to just finish reading the document before looking at the table to determine if the text can stand on its own. It does. Had I looked at the table earlier, it would have sped up my comprehension of the game. The Action Table concept boils down to how well a person succeeds (or fails) — its a differential metric.

The game only uses d10’s. Character attributes and skills are based on percentiles. Character generation is simple and should be relatively quick. Some skills do have perquisites but that is only a minor complication considering the short list of skills. The system includes a Luck attribute, which can be used in a variety of ways.

If the CM allows, characters can also have Paranormal Talents. PT’s are special mental skills a few individuals have (and perhaps a few rotters). The PT’s add flavor but can be completely ignored if the group desires to avoid mystical powers entirely.

Combat is round based with action declaration up front. Initiative is based on a group roll so you can blame the player tossing the dice when your character gets mauled. The entire combat process is well documented. A variety of tables suggest modifiers for actions. While useful, they could be skipped entirely in favor of CM rulings. I could run the system without a thorough re-read after only 2 hours of browsing the book.

The last third of the book focuses on setting but not a specific world. The text covers generating interesting non-player characters, suggestions on constructing a timeline since the collapse and picking how the rotters work in your world. Enough detail is given to get a game up and rolling quickly if you want. Alternatively, numerous starting points are given allowing a CM to craft a rich world full of diverse zombies. Ideas for the availability of items to be scavenged are available as well.

Final Thoughts

I only spent about 2 hours reading the book. I like the balance struck between specifics and generic options. I can imagine a wide range of settings and zombologies. The lack of a detailed world opens far more doors than a particular setting could have. I’m not an Action Table convert but it works for the system. After a few times of playing, the AT would become minimally invasive.

Table of Contents is detailed and accurate. Hurrah. Looks like a lot of fun. Time to craft some crazies.