Playground of the Damned: The Enemy

Today's "Playground of the Damned" post is about the enemy: zombies! There are four basic kinds of zombies that are going to show up in this adventure: kid zombies (former classmates of the PCs), adult zombies (former teachers and neighbors), bloated zombies (who swelled up from decay and give the characters opportunities to make fat jokes at Hugo's expense), and legless zombies (to ramp up the tension).

Let's take a look!


Zombie, Kid
These walking dead are typical groaning fiends looking for fresh meat... just a little smaller and weaker.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, Strength d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d4, Intimidation d6, Notice d4
Pace: 4; Parry: 4; Toughness: 6

Special Abilities:
•Bite/Slam: Str.
•Fear: The first time a character sees a kid zombie, he has to roll a Guts check. They’re scary.
•Fearless: Zombies are immune to Fear and Intimidation.
•Infection: If a zombie’s attack inflicts a Wound on a victim, that target must attempt a Vigor roll. On a successful roll, the attack that did the damage was a slam; on a failure, the target has been bitten and is now infected. An infected character makes a Vigor roll every hour; a failure inflicts a level of Fatigue that does not go away, and failing at Incapacitated causes the victim to rise again as a zombie.
•Size –1: These zombies are the kids’ ex-classmates, so they’re a little smaller than normal zombies.
•Undead: +2 Toughness; +2 to recover from being Shaken; immune to poison and disease; no additional damage from called shots (except for called shots to the head).
•Weakness (Head): Called shots to a zombie’s head are +2 damage.


Zombie, Adult
These walking dead are typical groaning fiends looking for fresh meat. They were adults before they got infected, so they’re bigger and stronger than kid zombies.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d6, Notice d4, Shooting d6
Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 7

Special Abilities:
•Bite/Slam: Str.
•Fear: The first time a character sees a normal zombie, he has to roll a Guts check. They’re scary.
•Fearless: Zombies are immune to Fear and Intimidation.
•Infection: If a zombie’s attack inflicts a Wound on a victim, that target must attempt a Vigor roll. On a successful roll, the attack that did the damage was a slam; on a failure, the target has been bitten and is now infected. An infected character makes a Vigor roll every hour; a failure inflicts a level of Fatigue that does not go away, and failing at Incapacitated causes the victim to rise again as a zombie.
•Undead: +2 Toughness; +2 to recover from being Shaken; immune to poison and disease; no additional damage from called shots (except for called shots to the head).
•Weakness (Head): Called shots to a zombie’s head are +2 damage.


Zombie, Bloated
These walking dead swelled up from the gases inside them and from eating too much (of what, it’s better not to imagine). Now, they’re enormously bloated and can belch out nauseating fumes.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d6, Notice d4
Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 8

Special Abilities:
•Bite/Slam: Str.
•Fear –1: The first time a character sees a bloated zombie, he has to roll a Guts check at –1. They’re really scary and kind of gross.
•Fearless: Zombies are immune to Fear and Intimidation.
•Gasbag: Once per encounter, a bloated zombie can belch a foul cloud of rot and decay. This cloud fills a Medium Burst Template centered on the zombie. Anyone within the cloud must attempt a Vigor roll or gain a level of Fatigue. This Fatigue vanishes after an hour of rest breathing clean air.
•Infection: If a zombie’s attack inflicts a Wound on a victim, that target must attempt a Vigor roll. On a successful roll, the attack that did the damage was a slam; on a failure, the target has been bitten and is now infected. An infected character makes a Vigor roll every hour; a failure inflicts a level of Fatigue that does not go away, and failing at Incapacitated causes the victim to rise again as a zombie.
•Slow: Bloated zombies waddle more than even other zombies. They have a d4 running die.
•Size +1: Bloated zombies are big and fat, making them somewhat tougher than the run of the mill.
•Undead: +2 Toughness; +2 to recover from being Shaken; immune to poison and disease; no additional damage from called shots (except for called shots to the head).
•Weakness (Head): Called shots to a zombie’s head are +2 damage.


Zombie, Legless
These aren’t so much walking dead as crawling dead. Being low to the ground makes them sneaky, though.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d6, Notice d4, Stealth d6
Pace: 2; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6

Special Abilities:
•Bite/Slam: Str.
•Fear: The first time a character sees a legless zombie, he has to roll a Guts check. If he doesn’t see it until it attacks him, he rolls at –2. They’re really freaking scary when they do that.
•Fearless: Zombies are immune to Fear and Intimidation.
•Infection: If a zombie’s attack inflicts a Wound on a victim, that target must attempt a Vigor roll. On a successful roll, the attack that did the damage was a slam; on a failure, the target has been bitten and is now infected. An infected character makes a Vigor roll every hour; a failure inflicts a level of Fatigue that does not go away, and failing at Incapacitated causes the victim to rise again as a zombie.
•Size –1: Since it’s missing half of its body, a legless zombie is a little less tough than a normal one.
•Slow: Legless zombies can crawl pretty quickly, but they can’t really run. They roll a d4 running die.
•Sneak Attack: Legless zombies start every combat the same way--crawling silently up to their intended target and biting him on the leg. If a legless zombie succeeds in his Stealth roll, he gets the drop on his victim.
•Undead: +2 Toughness; +2 to recover from being Shaken; immune to poison and disease; no additional damage from called shots (except for called shots to the head).
•Weakness (Head): Called shots to a zombie’s head are +2 damage.


Coming soon: an actual adventure!