[GURPS 4e] The Dying of the Light — Zombies! Always Accepting Players

[Inglenook]

THE DYING
OF THE LIGHT

---

The Sixteen, sort of:

Spoiler

Game System:
GURPS 4th edition. If anyone needs help getting any of the books, I can let them borrow mine. Just PM me.

Setting:
Gritty, modern day zombie apocalypse, drawing heavily from The Walking Dead, Rebuild and The Last Stand: Union City, with possible inspiration from George Romero's Dead series, Half-Life, Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead and The Signal.

Starting Scenario:
After a week-long cruise to the Caribbean and the coast of Mexico, the Calypso Queen is on its way back to port in Miami. In the early hours of the morning, however, strange reports begin coming in from the mainland, and one of the passengers has become rather violently ill …

Style:
Very much centered around: 1) roleplay, survival, creative problem-solving and relationships between survivors and groups, à la The Walking Dead. 2) strategy, weighing risks and resource management, à la Rebuild. There will be an inevitable degree of hack-and-slash, I imagine, but since combat in GURPS often ends nastily, you're almost always better off trying to outmaneuver the zombies rather than fight them.

Gaming Medium:
Play-by-post. Ideally on GitP, but I worry that some of the subject matter inherent in the genre might clash with some of the board rules. I'm open to ideas and opinions on this one.

Player Count:
At least three, but no more than five to start out with? I'm willing to negotiate on this one. Alternates are encouraged, given the high drop-out rate of play-by-post and the fact that new survivors can always be discovered by the group.

Allowed Content:
GURPS Basic Set should be sufficient, although you're welcome to look through splatbooks for inspiration. Occupational templates might also be handy to look at.

Dice Rolls:
You make your rolls, I make mine. The only exceptions are rolls with hidden success/failure conditions (e.g. Detect Lies), which I'll make for you "behind the screen".

House Rules:
• Will and Perception are divorced from Intelligence, which means that raising your IQ to 11 does not raise your Will and Per to 11 as well. The correlation between the three never jibed well with me—I know a great number of strong-willed and sharp-eyed people who aren't very bright, and just as many intelligent people who are weak-willed, milquetoast, absent-minded or whiny. Will and Perception will start at a default of 10 like all the other Attributes; they are not tied to one another.
• Your Fatigue Points pool is now equal to (Health + Will)/2 [rounded to the nearest whole], rather than simply equal to your Health. This represents the extra drive and perseverance that a person with strong willpower has … or how a weak-willed person might give up and break down if pushed too hard.
• Two new advantages: 1) Infection Resistance (5 points/level) — For whatever reason, your chances of not succumbing to zombie infection are higher than that of the average person. Each level of Infection Resistance grants +1 to HT rolls against becoming infected. This applies only to rolls against the zombie infection; you could still contract any number of mundane diseases from a zombie. 2) Infection Immunity (30 points) — Something about your biochemistry has made you completely immune to zombie infection. Any HT roll against becoming infected is an automatic success. You may not take this advantage during character creation, but you may spontaneously develop it by rolling a 3 or 4 on an HT roll against becoming infected (although your immunity will be kept secret by the GM). As with Infection Resistance, this offers no additional protection against other diseases.

Combat Rules:
We will be using Combat Lite rules for the most part, with a few additions/changes:
• Added: Hit Locations, Critical Hits/Misses, Surprise Attacks, Visibility, full Injury/Illness/Fatigue rules.
• Other Special Combat Situations may be used if they happen to come up, but I'll avoid them if at all possible.
• Turn Sequence is simplified. The "group" with the higher average Basic Speed goes first, all at once. This should make things a bit faster posting-wise.
We will not be using Combat Techniques or Tactical Combat (i.e. hex grids), although I'm willing to do grids if everyone else wants to.

Character Creation:
• Probably goes without saying, but humans only.
• 80 starting points.
• Up to 5 points of Perks and -5 points of Quirks.
• Up to -40 points of Disadvantages, counting reduced Attributes but not counting Quirks. This would hypothetically allow you to take a maximum of -45 points total.
• You may take any level of the Pacifism Disadvantage for extra points, even if it would exceed your -40-point limit. Most people in modern America should have Reluctant Killer at the very least (unless they routinely commit murder). Pacifism doesn't apply to killing zombies, only "unchanged" humans, so go wild!
• No paranormal or exotic Advantages/Disadvantages/Skills/etc. Ditto for 95% of those described as "cinematic" or completely unrealistic (e.g. the Resistance advantage), but you can always ask. Disadvantages should be ones that are actually disadvantageous in the setting; don't expect to get lots of free points for Liticaphobia (fear of lawsuits), for example.
• You may not take Wealth-related advantages or disadvantages, as the zombie apocalypse has rendered such things moot. You may take a minor version of Wealth as a Perk, which could provide a story- or skill-based bonus. For example, "Owned a Large Home" might give you a large, fortifiable house in your hometown, provided the group ever travels there. And "Was Homeless" might give you a small bonus to Urban Survival in some situations. Your starting equipment will be limited to realistic things that you might have had with you on the cruise. There is no starting wealth or income in the normal sense.
• I'd like at least a small bio, nothing too involved. Mostly just a brief description of occupation, loved ones, personality, etc. Your character needs to have a reason to be on the cruise ship, obviously, and if they have companions with them, you may (but are not required to) use them for the Dependent Disadvantage.
• Given their starting point values, your characters should be (for the most part) normal people, and their skills and abilities should match their backgrounds. For example: if your character is a housewife, she'd better have a damned good reason for knowing how to operate a rocket launcher. Unless your accountant character did a tour in the military, he's probably not going to have Combat Reflexes. Etc. etc. Please avoid min/maxing and munchkinry, for all our sakes.
• I'm very open to granting new Advantages/raising Attributes during gameplay as long as they're justified, so don't fret too hard if you can't afford everything you want at the start. Likewise, I'm open to creating new Advantages/Disadvantages/Skills, so if you have an idea or request let me know and I'll see if it's workable.

Miscellanea:
• Please be patient with me as I've never GMed before—I'm going to make SO.MANY.MISTAKES. By all means, correct me when I screw up, but please do it in a civil manner.
• I'm hesitantly open to intra-party conflict as long as there's a really good reason for it and it makes sense. Don't expect to be allowed to drop a grenade in the middle of camp "for the lulz", though. I'm okay with splitting the party if that's something you guys end up wanting to do.
• The zombies are very unlikely to be the corpsey, rotting sort. That's a deal-breaker for some people, so I thought I'd throw it out there.

[Inglenook]

Post reserved.

[Inglenook]

I've been wanting to try GMing a long-term zombie campaign for a while now, and Halloween approaching has spurred me into action.

There aren't a huge number of GURPS players on here, but I just wanted to gauge interest I guess. I'm pretty open to changing things around if the (sort of) Sixteen don't sound workable.

I'm definitely imagining something sandboxy. Want a flee-the-city story that turns into a quest to find a safe home, like in The Walking Dead? Want to slowly expand territory, meeting new survivors and retaking a city, like in Rebuild? Loftier goals of trying to wipe out the disease and save humanity? I'm okay with all of that. My only real stipulation is that the game be set in North America, since I don't know that I could pull off what life (or death) in the rest of the world is like.

So my questions to anyone interested:
1) Is everything in the Sixteen acceptable to you?
2) What sort of settings or plots would you be interested in?

The first idea that popped into my head was starting out aboard a cruise ship, but part of me feels that might be silly.

[Drynwyn]

I'd be interested in playing as either a sniper type or a time traveller sent back to prevent the situation who failed and now needs to fix it instead.

[Inglenook]

Not sure what a Tharp is, but time travel is out the window—no exotic or supernatural traits.

A sniper might doable, provided he has a valid reason for being where the campaign starts.

[Drynwyn]

The "Tharp" was a product of clumsy fingers on an IPad digitial keyboard and an aggressive autocorrect, but now I have this urge to write up stas for something of that name.
a
Anyway, sniper it is then. Or an engineer/scientist of some sort... Is Gadgeteering acceptable?

[Inglenook]

*remembers to make an NPC named Tharp*

Upon review, Gadgeteering is a pretty cinematic advantage, which I'm trying to avoid for a certain amount of grittiness. That being said, I have no problem with the concept of a scientist or inventor recreating existing technology or combining it in novel ways with the New Inventions rules on pg. 473 of the Basic Set. Levels of "Talent (Artificer)" would give you a bonus to pretty much all the default skills required for this, too.

There are provisos, of course:
- You have to find the supplies/lab/etc. to build it.
- You have to spend the required number of days building it (with an eight-hour workday, mind you), which could be problematic if you're on the run from zombies.
- Anything higher than TL8 is more than likely out, since I'd prefer this not turn into a sci-fi campaign.

So there are limits, but yeah, it would work. A scientist/engineer/inventor type would actually be a lifesaver if/when the group found a permanent home.

[Volthawk]

Hmm, looks interesting. Thinking of making a doctor or the like.

[Vespe Ratavo]

This is relevant to my interests in multiple ways! Everything in the 16 looks good to me. Personally, I'd prefer an escape-the-city/quest for a safe haven style plot, at least initially. Rebuilding or attempts to cure the disease sound more like late game, experienced PC goals to me. But, I'm up for anything. Cruise ship start sounds fun: boxed in area with lots of narrow hallways and cool things to discover while trying to get out.

As for my character...I'm thinking an office worker/college student/"ordinary person" type, to contrast with the snipers/doctors/scientists the rest of the group may or may not consist of. Lots of natural talent, but not too much skill, so they can grow from a talented newbie to a grizzled, experienced survivor over the course of the game. Could possibly be the party "face" when dealing with other survivors.

[Inglenook]

Doctor and everyman both sound fine to me.

And I do like the sound of that, an escape-the-boat type thing. And if you were ever able to return to it, I imagine a cruise ship would make a pretty great/safe floating fortress.

[Drynwyn]

Would an engineer who worked for a black-budget government/international organization with one level of High Tech Level be acceptable? Most stuff from tl 9 isn't that Sci-Fi esque, e.g gauss guns, and I can avoid stuff that is.

[Inglenook]

I'd very much like to keep everything at TL8 or below, just from a thematic perspective. The Walking Dead, for example, would lost a bit of its charm if Rick Grimes wielded a heavy laser.

So no levels of High Tech. I'd allow certain TL9 things on a case-by-case basis through the New Inventions process, although like I said, they'd be subject to the "bugs" table. Gauss guns would be allowed, although you're not going to get anything resembling lethality from a portable one; might work as a mounted rooftop gun, though. You'd also have to consider the amount of power they require (quite a lot), and given the power grid likely won't be up and running …

You can be a top-secret government engineer, but factoring in Rank, Security Clearance, powerful Contacts, etc., the point value of that would probably be well over the amount you have to start out with unless you buy little in the way of advantages/skills/attributes and cripple yourself with disadvantages.

I'd advise for a more "normal" character to start out with, with the possibility of creating another character later who has more starting points. Or a regular engineer who doesn't have all the government stuff bogging him down. But it's up to you.

[Drynwyn]

I was referring to thematically- if 99% of civilization has collapsed, Security Clearance probably isn't worth many character points.
Normal (or relatively so) engineer it is though, I guess, or maybe a sniper still.
I'll roll for it.
1-Engie
2-Sniper
(1d2)[2]
Aaaaand Sniper.

[Infernally Clay]

I'm so very tempted to try this out. I've never played GURPS before, even though I have the Basic Set. Maybe something along the lines of a journalist?

[Inglenook]

A journalist would be fine. And I'd be happy to help you with character building or whatever you need.

I've never GMed, so it'd be a learning experience for both of us.

ETA: When I get home from work I'll put up some changes to the sixteen, official setting/game start info (since everyone seems more or less okay with the cruise ship idea), and a list of skills that might come in handy.

[Xsesiv]

I'm very interested in this. I was looking for a GURPS game or a zombies game. This is both! If I hadn't found one I was going to start up a cyberpunk one. I might still go ahead with that.

Anyway, my initial idea on having seen this is to create some kind of cowardly, intensely neurotic personage who's either no use at all or (somehow or other) completely indispensable. If that's a bit silly, I might go with a criminal sort.

As for the setting, the cruise ship thing sounds fine. I do usually tend to the grittier end of things, so I prefer "survive!" to "save the world!", but that's just me.

[Inglenook]

Neurotic coward sounds good to me—probably pretty representative of the average person during a zombocalypse, anyway.

And yeah, I prefer the grittier option as well.

[Drynwyn]

Would "Always keep the terms of a written bargain" be a Major or Great vow?

[Inglenook]

10-point Major Vow, because you have the option to opt out by not taking the bargain in the first place. And written contracts would be much less common and enforceable after a zombocalypse as well.

I've made a few addendums (addenda?) and changes to the Sixteen.
1) Perception is now divorced from IQ as well, the same as Will.
2) Two new advantages: "Infection Resistance" and "Infection Immunity".
3) You may take a maximum of -5 points of Quirks, and they do NOT count toward your disadvantage limit. This means you could hypothetically take -45 points total.
4) Information on Wealth levels and starting wealth/equipment.
5) The starting scenario/setting, and how your character needs to fit into it.
6) Reduced the campaign power level to make the characters a bit more down-to-earth, at least to start with. I'm used to playing in high-powered campaigns, and forgot that 100-point characters are on the level of special ops and geniuses.

And a list of skills that could come in handy. Not that they necessarily will, but they were ones that stood out when I thought of survival in a post-apocalyptic world:

Spoiler

Social:
• Acting, Fast-Talk, Disguise, Makeup, Mimicry — Joining an enemy camp for the purpose of spying or bluffing your way out of a potential gunfight requires a certain skill with lying or misdirection.
• Body Language, Detect Lies, Lip Reading — Always useful to know what others may be thinking or whether a betrayer is in your midst.
• Diplomacy, Public Speaking, Savoir Faire, Sex Appeal, Streetwise — Making a good impression with NPCs could mean the difference between life and death.
• Gesture — Communicating without sound can prevent drawing the enemy's attention.
• Interrogation, Intimidation — Get the information you need by force.
• Merchant — A trade gone sour could result in you get swindled, or worse: a shootout.
• Leadership, Politics — If you want to become the leader of the group, these could certainly help.
• Psychology, Sociology — Whereas medicine allows you to heal the body, this lets you heal the mind. Also useful in predicting behavior.
• Teaching — Strengthen the group by sharing your knowledge.

Survival:
• Animal Handling — Wild animals are a danger, and having domesticated animals could make many aspects of life easier.
• Camouflage — Generally only makes sense for hunters and military, but a great stealth skill if zombies hunt by sight.
• Climbing, Escape, Jumping — Useful for making a quick getaway or getting to places that would normally be unreachable.
• Farming, Fishing, Gardening — Scavenging for food might get tough as time goes on.
• Filch, Holdout, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Sleight of Hand, Smuggling — Theft isn't honorable, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do.
• Forced Entry — It would be pretty awful if an inconveniently locked door got you killed.
• Housekeeping, Sewing — General minor repair skills.
• Knot-Tying — No one wants to be the idiot who let the tied-up enemy get away.
• Meteorology, Naturalist, Survival, Tracking, Urban Survival — Very handy skills when exposed to elements and eking out a living in the wilderness or ruined cities.
• Observation, Shadowing, Stealth — Doing things without being noticed. Very important when a horde of zombies wants you dead.
• Scrounging — How you'll find pretty much all of your tools and non-food supplies.

Knowledge:
• Architecture — Potentially useful when trying to navigate or explore ruined buildings, or evaluate whether a building is easily fortifiable.
• Area Knowledge — The generic skill of familiarity with an area's people and places. Required on some level by everyone, unless you're an amnesiac.
• Biology, Chemistry, Diagnosis, First Aid, Hazardous Materials, Pharmacy, Physician, Physiology, Poison, Surgery, Veterinary — Keeping the group healthy is paramount. Could be key in identifying the nature of the zombies, or destroying them.
• Electrician, Electronics Operation, Electronics Repair, Engineer, Machinist, Masonry, Mechanic — Technical skills for all sorts of repairs, electronics usage, industrial design, lab work, etc.
• Research — Generic ability to find information that could save you a lot of time.

Combat:
• Any weapon/armor/shield skills, provided they make sense with your character's background.
• Boxing, Brawling, various martial arts skills — If disarmed, this could be your last defense.
• Fast Draw — Those precious extra seconds could save your life in combat.
• Soldier — Experience on how to function in battle, and significant overlap with a lot of survival, travel and technical skills.
• Tactics — Battle strategy and outthinking your opponent.

Travel:
• Bicycling, Riding, Skating, Skiing, Swimming — Helpful for areas impassible by car, not to mention their relative silence.
• Boating, Piloting — The ability to travel effectively by water or air could always prove useful.
• Driving — Required if your character has his or her driver's license.
• Freight Handling, Packing — If you know there's a horde approaching, the ability to pack up and get out quickly is important. Also helps prevent damage and loss of supplies due to travel.
• Geography, Navigation — Having an idea of the lay of the land and how to orient yourself could get you out of a nasty pickle at some point.
• Hiking — You're only as fast as your slowest member.
• Running — Stopping to catch your breath while getting chased by zombies is certain death.

[Orosboru]

very much interested. A cop!

[Inglenook]

Sweet. A cop definitely works.

Okay, it seems like there's enough interest to move forward, and we might pick up some more as we go along. So let's get the ball rolling.

Before we start statting things out, I'd like to get a brief bio/concept for your character. Name, age, occupation, residence, basic personality and history, any family, why they were on the cruise, stuff like that.

A paragraph will do. Just keep in mind that these are 80-point characters, roughly analogous to the average cop, solider, athlete, scientist, etc. etc. Someone who is perhaps more skilled than the average person, but not necessarily amazing. Competent but not exceptional. Relatively normal people thrown into an apocalyptic scenario.

Once I okay your bio, you can go ahead with the stats, and if you need help just let me know.

[Inglenook]

Le bump.

I just got done statting out some of the NPCs, and I also finished the map from the first adventure. Sneak peek:

Spoiler

[Stegyre]

Originally Posted by Infernally Clay

I'm so very tempted to try this out. I've never played GURPS before, even though I have the Basic Set. Maybe something along the lines of a journalist?

Sounds like me: I have both the basic books (Characters and Campaigns), Powers, Magic, Space, and Thaumatology . . . though it looks like this will only require the basics.

My character proposal is an everyman: a burned-out lawyer taking the cruise to recover from a recent divorce. Worn out on marriage and career, he is at loose ends wondering what he should do with his life.

Tal Faulkner, age 34, currently unemployed formerly attorney, living in Chicago having just moved there from Los Angeles. He was taking the cruise while his apartment was being renovated.

Tal is on the rebound after separating from both his wife and his career of the past eight years. He's a calm, competent man, non-violent (although he had some minor martial arts training in his youth and has stayed in good shape).

I'm AFB right now, so further personality discussion is going to wait until I get back to my books.

[Inglenook]

Looks good to me. Stat away!

[Drynwyn]

John Smith (Pseudonym), age 25. Mid-level mob sniper. Moves around a lot, but used to live in New York. He was on the cruise in order to take out an important target.

Moderately well known in certain circles, "John Smith" has been working for the mob for about 4 years. He is well known for being extremely polite, if taciturn. Past the surface, he doesn't particularly enjoy his job, but doesn't lose sleep over it either. Overall, he just doesn't care. When able to discuss his profession freely, he does so frankly. In general, while he will respond openly and politely to direct question, he otherwise talks about himself and his profession as little as possible.

Spoiler

Starting equipment will most likely be: sniper rifle, a goodly amount of ammunition, and a tactical vest, and possibly a sidearm of some sort.

[Inglenook]

Sounds great. If you'd like to start out with your sniper rifle, I'd stick it under Signature Weapon—keeps it from getting lost like a plain old gun might.

[Stegyre]

Some rules questions/clarifications:

First, I assume that you're using RPK's rules regarding the Will/Perception/IQ breakup: Will and Perception are each 5 pts/lvl and IQ remains at 20 pts/lvl?

Second, do we get to know at all how infection works? I'm just observing that if anything less than 6 levels of resistance would grant effective immunity, then the immunity advantage may be overpriced. (On the other hand, if immunity allowed a character to, say, provide a blood transfusion to someone else, boosting the recipient's resistance -- that's the sort of thing that may well be worth some premium.)

[Infernally Clay]

Right...

Her name is Sarah Winters, 24 years of age. Up and coming in the world of journalism and a recent University graduate, she's already famous in certain circles for her ability to talk her way into and out of anything. British, Sarah is on a job that could get her a promotion to a position in front of the camera - the job in question to film and document as much about the Calypso Queen's voyage as possible. It's a pointless piece in Sarah's eyes, but you've got to take the good with the bad if you want to climb that ladder - and she wants nothing less than to get to the top.

Ambitious and with enough charisma to burn a hole through the floor, Sarah is a determined and strong-willed woman who hates to sit around and do nothing almost as much as she dislikes being held back when she knows she can do something.

[Inglenook]

@Stegyre:
Right. Will and Perception are still worth 5 each, and IQ is still worth 20. The only difference is that raising/lowering IQ doesn't affect the other two.

I'd like to keep the origins/method of infection/morbidity rate secret for now so that your characters can figure it out. But mechanics-wise, I can tell you that:

• HT rolls to stave off infection are made at a rather hefty penalty.
• Six levels of Infection Resistance (30 points) would reduce your chances of infection to somewhere less than 50% … but without being too specific, the chance is still very much there. So Infection Immunity is actually pretty efficient, cost-wise.
• There are a number of things you can do to help to pad the HT roll and help a person fight off the infection. A blood transfusion from an immune or resistant individual would possibly be one of them, yes.
• Surviving infection will give you an automatic level of Infection Resistance since your immune system will have learned to fight it off somewhat. Hypothetically you could become infected over and over, and as long as you fought it off each time, you'd eventually develop Immunity.

TL;DR version: Infection is very dangerous, but this can be somewhat mitigated by certain treatments and external factors. Surviving infection bolsters your immune system a bit against it in the future. "Infection Resistance" is less cost-efficient but easier on your point wallet, and has a greater chance of being obtained through the game naturally. "Infection Immunity" is more efficient, but requires a huge chunk of points all at once and can only be obtained during gameplay on critical successes. (2% chance).

Sorry if that was incredibly vague.

---

@Infernally Clay:
Sounds good!

[Infernally Clay]

So this is the part where I need help. I'll obviously be going heavy on IQ. I'm thinking perhaps going for a 14. That'd normally take all 80 points, but I could get 20 back by dropping ST to 8. It'd make Sarah a little less able in a fight, but that's a sacrifice worth making for someone who would rule the social scenes.