Saturday, April 28, 2018

Dawn of the Dead (1978)



I enjoy running players through movie scenarios. Let them have free run with the characters. It is always interesting and fun to see how differently things turn out from the source film. 

Dawn of the Dead is the classic sequel to Romero's Night of the Living Dead.
1978 and well into the zombie apocalypse Philadelphia is over-run with cannibal corpses. Three friends and a new ally make a desperate run for it in a helicopter. They eventually land at a mall and a massive zombie siege begins. 

The full outline of the story is here.

Arguably the hero of the film Peter is a level-headed SWAT trooper. He is well-trained in combat and tactics. He emerges as the de facto leader if the group. More info here


Roger is a fellow SWAT trooper and a fast friend to Peter. Roger urges him to escape Philly with him and his friends Stephen and Francine. Roger is weary of the horrors he has seen and it is affecting his ability to cope and survive. He often becomes wild and reckless which eventually dooms him. More info here
Francine is an employee of the TV and radio station where her boyfriend Stephen pilots the station helicopter. They plan to escape with their friend Roger, rendezvous with him and his new friend Peter at an over-run dock station and flee the city. Francine grows in skill and confidence throughout the film. More info here


Fran's boyfriend and pilot of the escape helicopter. Stephen is hot-headed and impulsive. He makes a series of bad decisions throughout the film. His arrogance leads to his doom. More info here.






And then we come to the mall. 
The mall used in the filming was the Monroeville mall in Monroevill, PA, east of Pittsburgh.
Here's a few maps from a brochure to get you started.



















EDIT:
A revamped map from the old boardgame, if you want a jazzier yet simpler map

2 comments:

  1. this is great! appreciate your efforts. Quick question as I want to run a Dawn of the Dead Halloween One Shot (then again, I always thought of what happened next to Fran and Peter) - are their living quarters indicated on the map or should I add a "Hidden floor" for this? - this was never clear to me even after 30+years of enjoying the movie! thanks again!

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  2. Sorry for the extremely late response, I've been severely ill for a long time. Much better now. To be honest I am not sure. I'm inclined to add a secret/attic level as you suggested. Sounds good to me.
    DId you get to run this? if so how did it go?














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