War of the Dead

Along the way, they decide that Fort Macon would be a good defensible spot. They spend some time scavenging, start a garden, and gather fishing supplies. Thinking the Fort is safe and sustaining, they leave most of the NPCs here while the PCs venture on to checkout the refuge camp in Jacksonville.

In Jacksonville the PCs are relieved to find civilization - the refuge camp is there, a military presence, and medical supplies. This brief bit of hope is dashed though as a zombie hoard overruns Jacksonville. Hulk and Brook die in the chaos, but the other PCs manage to clear the city.

Season 2, Part 1

Intro: It all happened so fast. No one really believed the initial reports and then, suddenly, the.... things ... were everywhere. Everything was over run. Police departments - gone. Whole cities - gone. TV & Radio - gone. Government - gone.

You were one of the lucky ones though. The soldiers at Camp Lejune quickly setup a refuge camp in Jacksonville, North Carolina and you made it there. Hastily erected walls and a heavy military presence keeps the things at bay. Sure, life is tough - there isn't much food, no electricity, no news, and the fellow refuges are sometimes a bit barbarous - but you're alive which is more than the rest of the world can say.

Using just the standard Savage Worlds Deluxe rules, make a modern day character with 20 XP and $300 to buy starting equipment (don't need to buy clothes or ammo). This is the rare campaign that will let you play an accountant or stripper though more combat oriented characters are OK. This is a high lethality campaign. Be prepared for that.

You also start the game the game with 1 ally under your control. This can be a family member, someone you met on the road, or a stranger not connected to your character. This ally gets straight 6's for abilities that you an adjust up or down, 5 points to spend on skills, and 1 edge.

Lastly, let me know one thing you'd like to happen this campaign, e.g.: You want to find your missing sister, you'd like to do battle on the wings of a biplane, your want to find a bank with a million bucks still in the vault, etc.

Fall of Jacksonville: The respite of the Jacksonsville refuge camp was short lived. No sooner did the PCs arrive, then the camp was overrun by a horde of shamblers. The party reached the safety of a warehouse in the initial onslaught, had a perilous journey through town to find transportation, and then a hectic fleeing from Jacksonville only to have their small convoy crashed into by an Apache helicopter.

Dalesbury: The party is rescued after the helicopter crash and taken to the relatively secure town of Dalesbury. Things look too good to be true and once the Hot Mom goes missing, Classy launches a murderous rampage in town to get to the bottom of things. They learn that Hot Mom was taken for medical research of some kind.

Medical Warehouse: Leaving Dalesbury, they journey to the warehouse to rescue Hot Mom. Their they learn that the Dr had been conducting medical research and that the young girl Samantha (an NPC) appears to be immune to the virus. Unfortunately, she was left behind in Dalesbury.

Return to Dalesbury: The PCs return to Dalesbury just as the Shambler horde from Jacksonville is overrunning it. With wild driving from Derrick, the party arrives at the Mayor's house. They are too late to save Samantha's father, but kill the Mayor, capture Dr Lewis, and rescue Samantha.

On the Road Again: The party flees Dalesbury and returns to Fort Macon. They learn from Dr. Lewis that the virus was a product of the 1st Gulf War. Brought home to study, it got our of control and infected the populace. When the players learn what Dr. Lewis did in the course of his research and the discovery that Dr Lewis was secretly taking blood samples from the colony, a bitter dispute broke out on what to do about it. In the end, Dr. Lewis was killed.

Fall of a Hero: On a scavenging trip from Fort Macon, Classey and Chris were surprised by a family. Not cottoning to being held at shotgun point, Classey elected to fight his way out - unsuccessfully.

Season 2, Part 2

It's been nearly four weeks since the fall of Jacksonville and the PCs retreat to Fort Macon. Things here are almost too good to be true - four weeks without any chaos; a reasonable amount of food from fishing, hunting, scavenging and even a small garden; and a defensible home from which to deal with the occasional hoard of shamblers.

Sure. some tension remains in the group over the decision to kill Dr. Lewis and no ones knows what to do with the knowledge that Samantha is immune to the virus. Those issues though can wait for another day. Now is a time for rest and recuperation.

The rest was too good to be true. A group of ex-soldiers and assorted thugs have setup a base of about 60 men not to far from Fort Macon. The PCs encounter a scouting party which they defeat, make a skirmish attack on their base, and then attempt to make a stand at the bridge. In the end there was just too many of them and the PCs flee Fort Macon for a rumored Sanctuary in the city of New Bern.

Arriving in New Bern, the PCs join a group hiding in the sewers and learn of the presence of UniMed. In an effort to learn more of what is going on, they ambush a UniMed patrol - killing one and kidnapping three. Questioning the soldiers, they learn that things might not be as they seem. They surrender to Unimed hoping for some mercy.

Arriving at the Unimed sanctuary, it is discovered that Dan is immune to the virus and Unimed takes him into custody. Ron is thrown in jail for his part in the murder/kidnapping. Things are seeming just to good to be true, the PCs aren't trusting Unimed, and so a jail & hospital rescue are performed and the PCs flee New Bern. Many NPCs left behind.

Season 3, Part 1

On the Road: The PCs are making their way west to the rumored Colorado Citizen Relocation Zone, scavenging as they go. In one town they help a escaped gang leader rescue his sister. Later they free a group of people from the JC Penny where they were being held. They take a short respite in a Missouri farm with an elderly couple where Shannon's baby is born.

Bad Men: While traveling, an ambush disables some vehicles and a group of NPCs are captured in the chaos by cannibals. Issy & Billy track them down and Issy starts a massive battle against the cannibals.

Salvation Denied: The group makes it to Denver only to find it has fallen. They make it to the capitol, recover some of the mysterious Unimed GX23 for Dr Stone, battle the zombie-fied Obamas and escape Denver with an army of ragers chasing them.

Capture: They head to a prison that they learned was the Presiden't fall back safe place. It's a perilous journey, chased by ragers the whole way, but they make it to the prison. The prison unfortunately has fallen to a group of bandits. The group has to give up their weapons to gain entrance and are captured.

Season 3, Part 2

New Home: The PCs overpower the bandits and take the prison for themselves. They learn that the prison was only an outpost for a group of bandits lead by a man who calls himself Colonel Fury and that a much larger group, with military equipment, are stationed in few days away in a place called Helltown.

Tensions Rise: A group of secret service agents are rescued in the prison, join the group, but are not too thrilled with the non-professionals leaders. The Cathy Fimori/Steve Elliot episode divides the group farther with PETA member Geoff taking the women and new born babies to a separate part of the prison for a hopefully more peaceful environment. Dr Stone's cold demeanor continues to rub many the wrong way.

Unwelcome Discoveries: A massive government lab is discovered beneath the prison. VP Gruber and Dr Stone confirm this was a place named "Limbo" where Unimed did nefarious government research. VP Gruber's palm prints can open the doors and Dr Stone has a lab down here.

The Neighbors: The PCs travel to Helltown to slow any counter-attack on the prison. Issy sneaks into town and blows up a tank. The bandits start taking revenge on the towspeople. The PCs are going to attack the town when they are captured by a military group and taken to a large underground bunker complex. In a private meeting with General Drazinsky - the leader - they learn of a government group called Division M that started this outbreak on purpose as a coup with the help of Unimed. The General believes that Division M spies still operate in his base and he needs the PCs help. An army of zombies somehow are unleashed from a sealed section of the bunker complex. During the mass battle, the PCs escape out an air vent escape route the General and Sgt Jeffries set up.

Suspicions Rise: After a third round of murders in the prison, suspicion has falled on the Unimed personal - VP Gruber and Dr Stone. Dan kills the shamblers the Dr was experimenting on in the underground prison lab. A still-warm M16 is found hidden in an office close the VP Gruber's office. Gruber and Dr Stone and taken to a cell for safe keeping, but they refuse to go in.

Season 4

Uneasy Time: Gruber & Stone are questioned but eventually let out. An uneasy truce is set with the secret service agents who are convinced Dr Stone is the murderer and want to beat the confession out of her. Geoff and the new mothers attempt to leave the prison but are stopped.

Rescuers?: A government contingent arrives and offers to take the group to a safe haven at Gloom Lake. They take an interest though in Dr Stone & Dan. As these troops search the prison, they release the horde of ragers trapped in the lab. Many dire battles are fought as the group tries to make it to the lab exit.

Bunker: The survivors make it to the bunker run by General Drazinsky where they are given safe harbor. Doc Stone & VP Gruber are locked up - their connections to Unimed and perhaps Division M are too dangerous. The General convinces the PCs to go to Helltown to recover an AWOL Dr Conroy.

Helltown: Arriving in Helltown, the PCs meet up with some resistance. It seems that Colonel Fury has taken out his anger at the blown up tank on the townspeople. After displaying their capabilities, the resistance agrees to join the PCs in fighting the bandits of Hellwown. They resistance wins a mass battle.

Mop Up: With the battle one, the PCs seek our Dr Conroy, find him, but kill his sentient zombie in the process. They have a harrowing chase after Dog Pound to stop him from blowing up the whole town. Lastly, they assault the school to rescue the captured resistance leader Ollie and put an end to Colonel Fury.

Future Questions?: They've captured a tank & chopper to help fight against Division M, but will the players give that to the General? What happens with Dr Conroy and the search for a cure? What happens to Dan - currently the only person immune to the disease? Will Billy & Issy find home in a government run facility? What of VP Gruber & Dr Stone - will they ever be trusted?

---- House Rules & Character Creation -----

Severe Damage

While you normally have to hit a zombie in the head to kill it, some weapons do enough damage on their own to just blow zombies apart and end the threat. These weapons do not require headshots to incapacitate a zombie: Grenades (and most area effect weapons), flamethrowers, guns on Automatic Fire, and Shotguns.

Zombie Hoards

It's kind of hard to miss when you're shooting into a massive hoard of zombies. Any shooting result greater than 1 will hit when you're firing at a group of zombies. You still need a headshot unless you're somehow doing Severe Damage.

Scavenging & Tracking Resources

I don't want to get too bogged down in tracking various resources. Rather than thinking of this as a "realistic" campaign where we track everything, this campaign is more "episodic" like a TV show. So last episode you may have had plenty of ammo, but things happened in between episodes and you're now low on ammo for this episode. Note that one episode might last more than one session or we could change episodes in the middle of a session. So basically any time we hand-wave "time passes" in the game, we may be moving to a new episode. Some specifics:

Food: At the start of a new episode, the GM may have everyone roll survival checks. Fail the check, you get a fatigue level for the episode due to your hunger/malnutrition.

Ammo: You do need to keep track of your ammo during an episode. At the start of a new episode, ammo might be determined randomly (or maybe it gets determined from Scavenge a City below?).

Scavenging a City: You may have opportunities between episodes to scavenge a whole town or city. The (hopefully) quick & dirty system for that is here.

Scavenging a Location: You can do a Notice check to search a particular location you are in, but the answer will frequently be "sorry, this area has already been looted". MacGyver and other edges should still work though.

Special Benny Rule:

Special Hindrances:

Special Edge: