Zombie Combat Rules
Zombie rules are reactive and focus around how you a) attempt to eat people and b) are killed while trying to eat people.
The most important rule
Don’t be a douchebag. Zombies are set-dressing, and while they can do some cool things and kill the players in all sorts of ways they should be a background threat, an environmental danger and not the stars of the show. Take your hits, even if you’re not sure whether you even got hit. Don’t swarm the players, and remember to give them room to move. Most importantly, listen to the EnyoGeni Technicians and work with your team.
Zombie intelligence
Zombies react to stimuli – they will hunt movement, sound and light in that order. Anything that falls into those categories is fair game – players, mobile phones ringing and flashing, glowsticks thrown down a corridor, fellow zombies moaning, doors slamming, and so on. New stuff is more interesting than old stuff – if an otherwise motionless human pressed against a wall throws a glowstick down a corridor, a zombie will investigate the glowstick first then come back to them.
Zombies can, given time, work out that a given motionless subject is a human and will attack them regardless. Zombies are not intelligent enough to speak (so no Braaaains, please) and instead work with guttural moans (not screams) and horrid, shambling walks.
Zombie states of being
There are six states of being for a aombie, and you will always be in one of these whenever you are in character.
- Corpsed: Not really a zombie at all, you are simply dead and here for set-dressing. You may be reanimated at some point later in the game, but for the time being enjoy the nice lie down.
- Dormant: As corpsed but you will animate and act as normal when a living human comes within a foot of you. Often used as traps and to create tension.
- Wander: You will Wander when there’s nothing interesting going on apart from other zombies Wandering. Stagger around at a speed as though you are browsing in a game or music store, but not really looking for anything. Hang out with other zombies and moan at them, see if you can’t find someone to eat.
- Stagger: You will Stagger when there are dubious sources of stimuli in the area (i.e. you are unsure that they are food). Imagine you were in town and you see someone you’re not particularly keen on seeing, but they’ve seen you, and they’re waving, and you have to go and say hello.
- Hunt: You will Hunt when you have definitely found living humans to eat. Imagine you have lost your keys and you are already late, and you’re looking everywhere for them – move at that speed (do NOT run) towards the source, and attack it as below.
- Destroyed: You have been sent to your blessed rest by the human character players. Have a nice lie down until they’re gone. If indoors, make sure to move to the sides of the corridor/room/hall so you don’t get trodden on, then get up and assume a new zombie personality. (Warning: this may be very similar to your previous zombie personality.)
Eating the flesh of the living
Your primary motivation as a zombie is to eat living things – however, living things are generally not keen on being eaten and will run away from you. To stop them running away, you’ll have to bring them down (please do not actually bring them down, it hurts).
To attack a player, touch them – don’t grab, shoulder barge, bite or headbutt – just touch them with your hand. This will slow them down and eventually allow you, or another zombie, to eat them.
Once you have touched a player, pull back and count to 5 slowly before coming back to attack. Never touch a player multiple times in one attack. This is simply a safe way of representing the player pushing you away.
Taking damage
Zombies don’t feel pain, but they are slow and unwieldy, making them easy targets. Players will be attacking you with firearms and melee weapons throughout the course of the game. This is how you react.
Firearm attacks
You have two hit locations – the chest, and everywhere else. If you are hit in the chest with a bullet you have taken a Critical Injury. If you are hit anywhere else you have taken a Flesh Wound (‘tis merely a scratch!). If you are shot while on the ground following a critical injury, hit with a double-barrelled shotgun, or pinned by a Chainsaw for five seconds, you are Destroyed.
While you are injured or on the floor for any reason, you may not attack players. We mean it. Particularly not in the legs.
If you take a Critical Injury, drop to the floor and count slowly to ten. Afterwards, you can carry on with your busy zombie day, but roleplay some serious injury – maybe your legs finally broke, the nerves linking your arm to your torso have been severed, or some part of your brain has been shot out so you let out a terrifying screech whenever you move. Whatever happens, your combat capacity is reduced as you limp and scrape along.
If you take a Flesh Wound, react as appropriate – a shot to the leg will make you stumble to one knee, a stomach shot will cause you to double up and stagger back, a shoulder impact will send you spinning against the nearest wall. Improvise, move away from the players, and count slowly to five. Once you have done so, you may act normally.
Headshots
Grunts have the Headshot ability which allows to call out “Headshot!” five times in total during the game when shooting zombies (don’t get carried away and actually shoot the zombie in the head!). Any zombie hit with a Headshot is instantly Destroyed. Grunts may only make headshots using a single shot weapon (i.e. one that requires you to cock it each time before firing). Grunts will be given five strips of coloured tape to strap to their arm at the beginning of their run to represent their remaining Headshots; these must be discarded after each call is made.
Melee attacks
If you’re hit with a melee weapon, react as you would to a flesh wound from a gun – stagger backwards flailing at your axe wound, drop to one leg if someone takes out your knee with a sledgehammer, and so on. But this time, take a little notice of how the players hit you. If someone really spent some time lining up the perfect baseball swing to knock you out of the park, go with it. Drop to the floor, count slowly to ten, and get up again with only one working arm. On the other hand, if someone taps you gently on the forearm, drop back out of sheer confusion, count to two, then get back in the fight.
If you’re injured or on the floor, you can be Pinned. This happens when someone with a melee weapon touches the tip to your chest, and represents them repeatedly beating you up to get you to stay still. As soon as they take the weapon away, resume normal behaviour. You can be Pinned against walls as well as the floor – if you’re against a wall, you can flail with your arms to try and touch the player pinning you. If you’re on the floor, though, do not try to attack players.
