Wednesday, April 25, 2018

OSR Survival Horror: Zombie-rama

Here's a few different zombie types from such great series as the Night of the Living Dead, Return of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, etc with a few extra bits.

Cannibal Zombie
Night of the Living Dead series.
HD: 1
HP: 6 (see below)
AC: 10
Hit: +1
Save: 17
Move: 90'/30'
Intelligence: 3 or less
Bite/Infect: 1d3 damage, any living human bitten must make a Saving Throw each hour after or turn into a Cannibal Zombie.
Deactivation: The fastest way to deactivate a zombie is to destroy its brain with a shot to the head . The head is AC:12, HP: 6. They are also vulnerable to fire, acid, and electrocution which destroys the nervous system,  but the method must do 18 points of damage before a zombie is deactivated. Any other damage to the body is ignored, although enough may blow off a limb, tear the body apart, etc at the DM's discretion.
Fear of Fire: A primitive part of the zombie's brain recognizes and fears fire. If any fire the size of a torch is waved at the zombie it must roll a Saving throw or retreat from the fire. If the fire is protecting a wounded victim the zombie's hunger is greater and it rolls the Saving throw with  a four bonus. If lit on fire the zombie will attack in a blind frenzy with a -2 attack penalty untiil the fire goes out or destroys the zombie. The zombie must take three times its hit points in fire or electrical damage to be deactivated.
Undead

The classic cinematic shambling zombie via George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and sequels. Slow, stupid, dangerous in packs. Drawn to lay siege to the living and slowly find a way in.

The Living Dead (Trioxin Corpse)
Return of the Living Dead series (I and II.)
HD: 2
HP: 10 (see below)
AC: 10
Hit: +2
Save: 14
Move: 120'/40'
Intelligence: Normal human
Bite: 1d3 damage, does not create more living dead. They are obsessed with brains which eases the pain of being dead. A T-corpse will target the head whenever they can. They will often grapple a victim to gain a +2 bonus to hit with their bite.
Total Destruction: The living dead corpses are not deactivated when their brains are destroyed. Even removing the head from the body will not stop it as the body and any parts removed will continue to wriggle about and fight by grappling,, kicking, etc. The body must be completely destroyed via cremation or powerful acid, or the nervous system completely fried by electricity. A total of 30 points of damage must be done to achieve deactivation. Smoke from cremation carries the Trioxin chemical and may create a new batch of the living dead as rain or other delivery agent carries it onto corpses.
Undead

T-corpses are unlike most depicted in modern horror media. All are created not from bites but from exposure to the 2-4-5 Trioxin chemical in either gas or liquid form. They are smart, fast, and insanely hard to kill without military grade weaponry. Freshly dead  T-corpses have their full intelligence and are quite able to use clever tactics and equipment to get fresh brains.

Rage Zombie
28 Days Later Series
HD: 2
HP: 12
AC: 11
Hit: +2
Save: 16
Move: 120'/40'
Intelligence: 3 or less
Bite or Claw/Infect: 1d3 damage. If blood or saliva enters a victim's system they victim will change into a rage zombie within 1d4+2 rounds.

Unlike other entries these 'zombies' are actually alive. The virus that infects them turns them into murderous raging killers with little intelligence. The virus is frighteningly easy to transmit and is rapid in its conversion of victims. They eventually burn themselves out due to starvation, dehydration, exposure, and other problems that the undead are not affected by. They also cannot swim and will drown in deep water.

Animal Zombie
This is built as a template to add to the infected animal's stats.
HD: add +2 hit points per hit dice
AC: +2 to base
Move: As alive
Bite/Claw/Etc: +1 dice step. If it did 1d4 damage it now does 1d6 damage, etc. Zombies don't hold back and do not care if their muscles rip or tendons tear. Their attacks are more ferocious.
Fear of Fire: A part of zombie's brain recognizes and fears fire. If any fire the size of a torch is waved at the zombie it must roll a Saving throw or retreat from the fire. If the fire is protecting a wounded victim the zombie's hunger is greater and it rolls the Saving throw with  a four bonus. If lit on fire the zombie will attack in a blind frenzy with a -2 attack penalty until the fire goes out or destroys the zombie. The zombie must take three times its hit points in fire or electrical damage to be deactivated.
Deactivation: The fastest way to deactivate a zombie is to destroy its brain with a shot to the head . The head is +2 to the zombie's base AC, hit points are the zombies normal full amount. They are also vulnerable to fire, acid, and electrocution which destroys the nervous system,  but the method must do 3x the zombies hit point in damage before a zombie is deactivated. Any other damage to the body is ignored, although enough may blow off a limb, tear the body apart, etc at the DM's discretion.
Undead

Fast and deadly. Deactivate an animal zombie as fast as you can because it has all of the advantages of its natural weaponry and senses combined with the toughness of the undead.

Extras:
Amputate
It may be possible to stop an infecting bite from a Cannibal Zombie. If a bitten limb is removed within 1d6 rounds the infection will have been caught before it spreads throughout the victim's system. The DM should roll the 1d6 and secretly compare it to how long it takes to remove the character's limb. If it's the same or less than the secret roll the infection has been cut out in time. This will only work with a Rage Zombie bite if the 1d6 rounds to amputate roll is lower than the Rage infection's 1d4+2 roll. 
Amputation rules.... here.

Blowing off Limbs
Zombie limbs can be targeted by adding a +1 to the zombie AC. Limbs have half of the target's full hit points and are rendered useless when these hit points are gone. An injured limb cannot be used to attack, climb, etc and an injured leg causes the zombie to move at half normal rate. If both legs are disabled it can only crawl, assuming it has an arm left to do so.

Pack Attack
When swarming a target up to four zombies can attack a still fighting victim. Each zombie adds a +1 bonus to bite or grapple attacks made by its pack mates vs the victim.

Sense Humans
Some zombies seem to have an innate sense for detecting living humans in their area. Within 10' of a hidden human the zombie has a 1-2 on a 1d6 to sense the human's life force and its location.

Art by Grimbro

2 comments:

  1. This is fun. I'll have to print this and put it in my OSR binder.

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    Replies
    1. Groovy! I hope you can surprise your players with these at some point. :D
      I'm using Trioxin zombies this weekend with my guys in a Survival Horror one-shot. A secret Trioxin convoy wrecks off road in a camping area. Players playing both campers and surviving soldiers, multiple pc's per player. Vs Trioxin soldiers and a fresh Trioxin grizzly.

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