Scavenging During a Zombie Apocalypse

Setting Rules

Gritty Damage: Any time you take a wound (just once regardless of how many wounds), roll gain and injury that goes away once you're healed. Roll on the injury table. 

Joker's Wild: Benny on joker

Critical Failure: Since you can die with one bite, you can spend a benny to avoid a critical failure. Accepting a crit gets you a benny. 

Heroic Determination: Spend a benny to gain any combat edge for 1 round without regard to requirements (except Edge Requirements, you can take Sweep but not Improved Sweep. Also, not Legendary edges.)

Zombie Stuff

You got to hit 'em in the head to kill them. Anywhere else can shake them, but can't wound them. 

Automatic weapons, area effect weapons, and flamethrowers don't necessarily kill a zombie, but they do enough damage that the zombie can no longer effectively fight. 

One bite can kill you. If you take a wound, you're infected. If you have armor on that location, it takes two wounds to infect. 

Special Gear

Duct Tape Armor, +0 Armor, 1lb, 100, All locations
Motorcycle Suit, +0, 2lb, 150, Torso/arms/leg
Heavy Rain Poncho, +0, 1lb, 10, Torso/arms, 50% Head
Scrap Armor, +1, 10lbs, 200, 50% all locations

Healing Poultice, 50. Healing rolls are -2 without. Also cures fatigue. A Survival roll looking for food can get 1 poultice in exchange for 1 person's food. 

Molotov Cocktail, 5/10/20, 2d6, costs 25, mbt. Avoid Agility - 2 unless direct hit. 1d10 each round after until roll 1 or stop/drop/roll

Zombie Hexploration

Hexes have two stats, Infestation Level and Scavenge Level. GM might set the level for a hex or maybe we roll a d6 for each of them. You won't know the levels when you first enter a hex - you'll need to Scout. 

Each day, you can take 2 actions. The actions are: Travel, Scout, Scavenge, and Fight. - see below for details. You can take MAP if you want to do more than one in any half day.  Each action is a 3 round dramatic task. 

Travel: Move one hex if on foot, two if traveling by horse/vehicle. Requires 3 successes x number of players (if on foot/horseback, everybody rolls. In a vehicle, only need driver to roll). Success, you get there. Failure, you don't. Raises?
A Survival person can look for food if they want as one of the actions- but it doesn't count for a success. The can MAP to look for food and do an action. 

Scout: Figure out the infestation and scavenge level of a hex. Requires 12 successes. 

Scavenge: Look for supplies. After the second round of the dramatic task, the GM rolls a die equal to the Scavenge Level and then multiplies this by 3 to get the needed number of successes needed for the dramatic task. You successfully scavenge one time for success and each raise (roll on table below). The scavenge level increases for success and each raise as well (the area gets harder and harder to find supplies). 

Fight: Battle zombies to reduce the Infestation Level. After the second round, the GM rolls a die equal to the infestation level and then multiplies by 3 to get the needed number of successes. Each success and raise, the Infestation Level is lowered by 1. Over time, the GM might change the infestation level without you knowing (or maybe every time you do something in the hex, it resets to current level - 3 + an acing 1d6?). In the first round of the DT, you can use non-combat skills as normal. In later rounds they can only be used to assist.)
Ammo: Each round of shooting uses 3 rounds of ammo. 

For all of these, a Club is a complication.  Failing your roll on a Club does not end these dramatic tasks. It also doesn't automatically apply a -2, instead we roll a 1d20 to see what happens. (You have to spend a benny for a new card before the d20 roll). 

Roll Vigor or take Fatigue
Take a -2 this round
Take a -4 this round
Equipment malfunction / loss. 
Attracted Zombie attention. Raise Infestation Level by 2.
Zombie attack! Make a combat skill roll or a non-combat skill roll. Target number is a roll of the Infestation Level + 2. On a failure, take a Fatigue. Each Raise is a wound. 

Wait, wut? Yeah, the number of success needed is determined randomly. Exciting! Also, the number of successes isn't based on number of players. Bring along allies to help if you dare. 

Scavenge

Each success and raise:

1-2, Mundane Items, value d4 x 50
3, Food, value d4 x 100
4-6, Barely Useful Junk, value  d4 x 25
7, Weapons and ammo, value d4 x 200
8, Vehicle

Each one requires 1d4 cargo spaces. 1 cargo space weighs 50 lbs if carrying. Total value of the items is Cargo Space x Value. 

If you want a specific item and you find the right type of scavenge, you found the item you wanted but it costs x 2 the normal cost. Reduce the Scavenge value by that amount. Once the scavenge gets back to base it all becomes Scrap for crafting and you can't get a specific items from it. 

Crafting

You can craft stuff but you need the right skill and you need the raw materials (scrap from scavenge). Note that some stuff you can't craft without a base with the needed facilities and or it might be hard to do. Success, you make  it and it costs half normal cost in  Scrap. On a raise, costs 1/4. Skill suggestions:

Healing: Medical stuff
Science: Bullets,  poison, fuel
Repair: Repair works as normal in the field,  but for crafting you need a specialty. You get one specialty per die type (d4  = 1, d6 = 2, etc.).
Blacksmithing: Metal stuff, weapons, scrap armor
Leatherworking: Clothes and such
Gunsmith:  Guns
Vehicle:  Vehicle stuff, armor, faster speed, more cargo, etc.

Base Stuff

Not needed at the start. 

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Previous Game Ideas

This quick and dirty system will be used when the players want to scout out an area looking for supplies. It's divided into three actions: Movement, Combat, and Scavenge. PCs and NPCs can go as one group or split up into various groups. 

Movement

The first thing the characters have to do is move through the zombie-infested areas. Each character makes one roll using a skill of their choice. Suggestions for skills to use and how they work are below. The number of successes versus the number of people in the group affects things in the combat section below. 

Stealth: You sneak around. Each success and raise counts towards the number of successes. 

Notice: You keep lookout. You contribute a maximum of 1 success to the group. 

Climbing: You get around problems by going up and over. Maximum of 2 successes. 

Aid Another: For this situation, it's easy for one sneaky person to help others successfully move about - They scout areas first, show people where to move, etc. To reflect this, we'll use a special Aid Another action. Decide who the sneaky leader of the group is. Everybody else in the group makes a Stealth roll. The results of this roll affect the leader's roll as follows: 

0 or less: -2 to the leader's stealth roll

1-3: -1 to the leader's stealth roll

4+: +1 to the main person. No extra for raises since this person was hanging back and not really helping. 

The leader then makes his rolls will all the modifiers from the other people in the group. The results of this are:

Less than 4: No successes

4-7: Counts as # success equal to the leader + number of people in the group

8+: Each raise counts as another success

eg. The ninja is sneaking through the city and tells the two NPCs who are bad at stealth to follow him. The two NPCs make rolls with one of them getting a 0 and the other getting a 3. The ninja makes one stealth roll at -3 due to their results. A success on this roll counts as 3 successes. 

Combat 

As you move about in the hellscape the world has become, you most likely run into zombies and have to fight them. To fight the zombies, every character makes one Fighting or Shooting roll. For each hit and raise, roll damage. Damage that equals or exceeds the zombie's toughness counts as 1 success. The group needs to get a number of successes equal to:

• The number of people in the group

• Subtract or add required successes depending how the group did in movement (if the group came up 2 successes short in movement, then they need two extra successes here - they were loud and attracted zombies. If there were three extra successes in movement, then they need three fewer successes in this phase)

• Fleeing: If the group opts to flee, they need 4 fewer successes but they may not act in the scavenge phase. 

• Modifiers for GM dickishness (some areas might be denser with zombies than others)

Shooting: Combating zombies at range is much safer than fighting them up close, so anyone making a Shooting roll gets +2 to that attack. Every shooting roll uses x3 rounds of ammo for the attack you make (Normal shooting is 3 rounds, a double-tap would be 2x3 = 6 rounds, 3RB would be 3x3=9). 

Taking Damage

Each success in combat that the group comes up short is a successful attack that is assigned randomly to a group member. Damage is rolled by the zombie, toughness is applied, and then the person attacked may attempt to soak as needed. 

Scavenge

If the group didn't flee during combat, each surviving member may make one scavenging roll, either Notice or Survival+2. For each success and raise, they draw a card to see what they have found:

Luck, Complications, and Untrained

For all of the rolls above, we draw cards as normal for initiative. A Spade on your initiative indicates some good luck and you receive +2 to the roll. A Club is a Complication and gives a -2 to the roll. 

Untrained characters are dangerous to have around. A result of 0 or less on any roll counts as -1 success (except Aid Another in stealth). Everyone in the group does have to roll in each of the three phases. 

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Attempt 1 - Previous Scavenge system

These rules were used the first go-around of this campaign. While they worked OK, they took a long time to resolve. Spending an entire evening on a scavenging run took too much away from the story. Hence new, quicker rules above. 

When passing through a population center, the characters may attempt to scavenge for useful items as long as they are willing to risk a zombie attack. 

Zones

Depending on the size of the area being searched, the GM will divide it into a number of Zones. A big town might be 8 zones, a 1 stoplight town might be 1 zone. PCs move and search from zone to zone. 

Groups

The PCs and NPCs can split into a number of groups however they like. When scavenging, each group has one PC/NPC making the primary roll with all other members of the group having to assist. Each group spreads out within a zone to do their searching. 

Encounters

Each zone has a "threat level" between 2 and Ace. This is a measure of how zombie-infected the zone is. For each PC/NPC in a group beyond the first, the threat level is increased by 1. (So one guy moving by himself through a zone has a lower threat level that 6 guys working together). You might know the threat level of zone (you see a bunch of zombies in the street, threat level 6) or you might not (you don't see a bunch of zombies, but there are a couple hundred of them inside Walmart). 

Each scavenger phase starts with an encounter check for each group. The GM draws a card and if the value is less than or equal to the threat level, an encounter has potentially occurred. The threat level for this zone increases by 3 for future checks if loud combat occurs or by 1 if no loud weapons were used.  

The group can attempt to avoid the encounter with a Stealth or Agility (Flee) roll - see below. On a success the encounter is avoided. On a fail, the encounter happens. Regardless, if they try to avoid the encounter, they can't take actions in the Skill Phase. A typical encounter might be 2 zombies per PC/NPC or 1 per with the zombies gaining surprise. Or the GM might have a chart of interesting, cool and/or sadistic encounters that you'll draw for. Different groups in the same zone can join an encounter on Round 3. 

Groups in a different zone can't participate in the encounter - they are too far away. 

Generic encounters (GM draws a card):

Additionally: On a club, the encounter happens in a cramped quarters of some sort where the PCs are not able to flee. 

Skill Phase

If a group did not attempt to evade an encounter, then they can make a skill check. As always, the players are free to narrate what they want to do and the GM figures out some check for that. Some sample actions would be:

Survival: The group searches for food & water. The GM draws a card, on a club this zone has no more food & water to be found. If not a club, one PC makes the Survival roll at with others assisting. Assisting PC/NPCs get a +2 to the roll (it's not hard to find food if it's there). Each success finds them 3 days worth of food. 

Notice: The group searches for fuel. The GM draws a card, on a club this zone has no more fuel available and no other rolls are made. If not a club, one PC makes the Notice roll with others assisting. Assisting PC/NPCs get a +2 to the roll (it's not hard to find fuel). Each success from the primary roller finds them 3 gallons of fuel. 

If the card for the Survival or Notice check was a Spade, the group also finds a piece of Miscellaneous Equipment. 

Stealth: Attempt to sneak from one zone to another. Every member of the group makes a Stealth roll (no cooperative roll allowed). You must get at least enough successes equal to the number of members in the group to move safely (so a raise for one person can cancel out a fail from someone else in the group). On a failure, you can choose to move to the next zone but have to draw another encounter card first or you can choose to stay in the zone. The Stealth roll is modified by the current threat level of the zone:

    2-5: +2 Stealth

    6-10: +0 Stealth

    Jack - Joker: -2 Stealth

Agility: The group flees, running and dodging past any zombies. Every member makes an Agility check (same modifiers as Stealth above). You must get at least enough successes equal to the number of members in the group to move. A failure just means you didn't manage to move (or escape an encounter). Once a group flees, they can't attempt Survival or Notice checks any more until they succeed at a Stealth check first. The threat level for the zone they started in increases by 2. 

Taunt: Try to draw zombies from one zone to your zone. This generally lowers the threat level in the target zone by 2, but raises the threat level in your zone by 4 (you draw zombies from all around). 

Tracking (or Smarts - 2): Try to have your group meet up with another group in the same zone. This requires just a simple success. You get a +1 for each person beyond 1 in the group you are trying to find. If the group can communicate (walkie-talkies), this roll is at +4

Multiple Actions: It is possible to attempt multiple actions. You take -2 per action as normal. So you can stealth to the next zone and do a Survival check, do a Survival and Notice on the same turn, etc. 

Special Note: It is possible for the group to break up if it wants. If everyone is attempting the stealth or agility check, the people who made the check could opt to move leaving the others behind (people getting a raise can decide who they want to help come with them). 

Miscellaneous Equipment

A Spade when doing a Survival or Notice check means the group has found a piece of Miscellaneous Equipment. Draw a card: