aliens vs zombies, vs machines vs gods...
 
And mankind sitting on the sidelines watching the whole thing and eating popcorn

I kinda hope something new, or like 40k but streamlined. Also how do you establish your stats?
 
Gm: "ok did anybody have trouble making their character?No? mind if i look at your sheets?"
Bruce:" sure."
Gm "aaaagh what is this? why are your speed, strenght, endurance and dexterity near max?""
Bruce "thats the way i'm built man, i'm ripped!"
Gm: "you are overweight, you don't work out and you can barly lift anything! go change your stats please!"
Gm" next one is- Mike? seriously?"
Mike: "what?"
Gm: " you expect me to believe you have 3 hunting rifles, a smith and wesson, a desert eagle, a sawn-off and a frigging AA-12 at your home?"
Mike: "yeah, wanna see 'em?" *glares at Gm*
Gm: "sigh, ok ill belive you" *shudders*
Gm: "and last, Tom's character sheet. Let's see...'Poison resistance'? care to explain why you have that special advantage?"
Tom: "remember that one time we ate that 3 day old pizza and i was the only one who did't threw up?"
Gm: sigh ok, i gues you have 'poison resistance'

It's fiction. Your players can handle that.
If they make a big stink about not being raptured then you tell them their fictional self must have done something awful.

The art work in the book shows Fenrir to be the size of a multi story building.

I haven't read them all yet but the one that captured my imagination most was ragnarok although I thought it could be a bit hard to play as to make a difference it requires a lot of up close and personal combat to be able to have an the main antagonists and my friends and I just aren't up to it.
 
It might work well with made up players who are either martial artists or members of the Society for Creative Anachronism or something similar.
 
I do love the wyrd as it's a pretty cool concept.
 
I might update what I think about the others as I read them more thoroughly.

I am. But we haven't played ZA since the first session.
 

It sure does. My group's never done it any other way. Since we've done a lot of one-shots, I usually knock out a bunch of scenario-suitable pregenerated characters (which are super easy to create in this game) and let the players choose: 'Who want's to play the guy hiding a zombie bite?  How about the woodlands survivalist with a pet wolf? Or the pet wolf?'
 
For players who want to make their own, I threw together a simple point-based system. But even that's probably more complicated than it needs to be Like Veruca said, just eyeball some stats, features, and gear. 

I've started a 'long shot' campaign... so far so good, I did a few test runs with the PC's on my own.. Using the scenarios & zombies in the book, they didn't even make it out of Tesco's to the car!  My youngest son was the last to go, managed to get to the checkout... the rest died in the fruit and veg aisle.
 
So.... I have written my own, I watched 28 days/weeks later, WWZ, Romero's Zombie quintology, hammer zombie flicks, resident evil films - even flicked through All Flesh Must Be Eaten, etc... so far, they've had several encounters with the dead. 2 major injuries, but no infections. They have tooled up with the 'Chat Sh**, get banged' stick (a carving knife at the end of a broom handle) a garden hoe, a shovel, an aluminium baseball bat and 2 shotguns with ammo they bought off a local, friendly farmer.
 
They have survived/escaped the quarantine zone and are now approaching the local (Staffordshire Regiment) barracks - in the RW the barracks are now a museum, but I've changed it else they'd really be screwed.... roll opening credits.

What he said. It's certainly something different from the usual D&D stuff. Now I've only played the zombies (Home town blown up in chem plant explosion during mass panic: TPK) and the wrath of the gods one (Cthulhu appears at Antwerp harbor! Aaaand we're dead. That was a quick one  ) Still have to get around to do the other two.

That really depends on what you're looking for in an rpg.
If you want a fairly unforgiving game where your friends (GM's are encouraged to get themselves killed early in the apocalypse) likely end up not surviving the evening then yeah it's fun for playing the scenarios.
Then if they manage to survive they can play in the aftermath of the apocalypse as well.

It should make a good defensable location if you can remove the gangways and clear out any infected on the ship.
 
LOL zombie loveboat!
 
Love, exciting and new
Come aboard, we're expecting you
Brains, lifes sweetest reward
Let it flow, it floats back to you

Love Boat soon will be making another run
The Love Boat promises something for everyone
Set a course for adventure
Your mind on a new horror
 
Your wounds, won't hurt anymore
It's an open smile on a deadly shore
Yes, death
It's death

Brainss Boat soon will be making another run
The brainsss Boat promises something for everyone
Set a course for braaaains
Your brains on a new brainsss

Braiiinsss won't hurt anymore
It's an open braaainss on a friendly braaainnsss
It's brains, it's brains, it's brains
It's the brainsss Boat, it's the braaaaainnnzzz Boat

According to the zombie survival guide, cemeteries are actualy pretty safe since infected zombies don't rise from the grave and most cemeteries are remote enough not be overwhelemed by the walking dead. Hospitals on the other hand...

Ok peeps. I brought this up in the Google Earth topic, but figured that that topic might just drown and get lost. And also figured that many here might not check an older topic I brought back from the dead (ok, only a few weeks dead). So here it is;
 
The Map of the Dead.
 
Want to check up on where you can get more gas for you car? Or building supplies to fortify your safe house? Or weapons? What about guns and ammo? Medical supplies? Where the cemetaries are so you know where not to go? Where the police stations and military instilations are? Check out the The Map of the Dead.
 

thats pretty epic

This is how one of the players envisioned himself. Bloodied banjo, 5th beer and all...

He is now working on a piece from our last Edge of the Empire session. I'll post is it once it is finished!

Is your wife still in touch with any (local) friends that she knew from back then?  Even if they aren't role-players, they might be interested in pretending to be 18 again (oh, btw, zombies.) =P
 
It could be the perfect combination of girl's night + gorey apocalypse scenario!
 
Actually "Girl's Night" would make a great title for a movie along these lines.  (I like to imagine my RPG games like they're movies, B-rated or otherwise.)
 
...
 
GirlZ Night?  (See what I did there?)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(The Z is for Zombies)
 
(OK, I'm leaving now.)

Hello everyone. Due to no interest locally, I'm going to be running ZA for just my wife. She will be playing a younger version of herself from before she knew me. Her character will be 18 years old and employed at Walmart. She'll be working 3rd shift stocking shelves when the metaphorical crap hits the metaphorical fan.
 
Any suggestions on which scenario I should run for her? We plan on this not being a one shot adventure and want to develop this into a full fledged campaign. All suggestions are welcome.

First off, I think you picked a good game for friends first time playing, but perhaps a harder one for your first time GMing. I've found the the kind of high fantasy that rules tabletop RPGs can be a turn-off to the uninitiated. This game is easier for people who would otherwise not be into tabletop to get into. That said, the fact that EoTW  doesn't have pre-packaged campaigns (e.g. DnD) can make it harder for you as a new GM.

They way I've done it is to make a general timeline of events, then make a list of encounters that I think would be fun or interesting. After that, I'll try to arrange the encounters on my timeline where I think they'll fit best and in accordance with what I think my players will do. You'll have to figure out how to balance it and whether you prefer short and brutal one-off games, or a continuing campaign.

...you know what. It's hard to explain and everyone is going to have their own approach. How about I just show you what I have prepped for a new campaign I'll be starting next week. I haven't finished prepping it by any means, but maybe it'll help.


                                       -IT ENDS WITH A WHISPER-
Notes
·         Phase 1 (first session or two): survive the starting chaos.
·         Phase 2 (Next two or three sessions): travel to and establish a safehouse
·         Phase 3 (Next two or three sessions): get a quest to kill the voodoo boss in the area
 
Prep
·         Give each player different background facts. Have one or two of them hear the truth.
o   North Korea is making nonsense threats about a new super weapon
o   A new super-collider is going online in Nevada.
o   The mayor has a pet project to drain a nearby lake “for archaeological purposes.” He just got approval this week.
o   The city just started clean-up and excavation of a nearby superfund site.
o   There have been odd threats from some kind of eco-terrorist group.
 
Starting Event
·         I’m possessed. I suddenly space out, get in the car, and drive off, and crash my car on the freeway to snarl up traffic and keep people from escaping the city.
o   If people try to stop me I will try to violently fight them off.
o   If someone manages to get in the car with me, I turn and tell them to get out, in a voice that is not my own.
o   If they follow me, they see me die in the car-crash to close down the highway.
o   Shortly after the multi-car pile-up that I cause, a voodoo priest walks between the cars, rezzing zombies and finishing off survivors.
o   If the person is still in the car with me, they will have to try to escape that ****.
 
First Day
·         The chief of police tells everyone that they are declaring a state of emergency. Half an hour later, he tells everyone it was a false alarm and to go about their business as normal, he bumps the mic as he walks off stage.
·         The roads are ******, no one is getting anywhere by car.
·         By the evening, there will be 2-3 zombies on every city street. Thinner in the suburbs. Thinner still in the country.
·         OPTIONS:
o   If they go to the hospital:
§  They will try to separate the wounded from the friends. The wounded person will be admitted into a strangely empty ER by a tired looking doctor.
§  As they wait “for the doctor to see you,” they hear a muffled scream and a scuffle.
§  If they investigate, they see the doctor and an orderly kill a patient and wheel away the body (to be rezzed as a zombie).
o   If they go to the police:
§   The intake officer will tell them that nothing is wrong, even as **** goes to hell around them.
§  If they get the attention of someone else, they will tell them that **** is crazy and unless there is something happening RIGHT NOW, they should go back home.
 
Second day
·         Most business are closed, some are open and giving away free food samples.
o   If they do find an open store, looting breaks out around them. The store owner pulls a shotgun and tells everyone to get out before the players have a chance to buy their gear. They must either fight or steal or convince the owner to let them pay.
o   Or maybe he is only taking ammo as payment.
·         The National Guard moves in. Gets in a gunfight with local police.
o   Survivors come to a checkpoint. The police tell you go to a local shelter. The National Guard tells you to get in the truck and the will evacuate you out of the city.
§  The police and guard argue. Someone fires a shot. Both sides yell at you to come/go now, as bullets fly.
§  If you go with the National Guard:
·         They will take any weapons you have.
·         They will drive your truck and one other into a warehouse. Some guards will ask the driver what he’s doing. The driver shoots him. The other truck opens up and it’s full of zombies. The driver gives orders
·         PCs can get weapons, radio, rations, body armor, etc.
§  Of you go with the police.
·         The police will point you in a line with other survivors. No one seems to know exactly where they’re going, but they do wind up in a school gym a few blocks away. There are swat team members positioned at intersections, keeping the zombies away (although there don’t really seem to be many here).
·         They will take your weapons on your way in.
·         They will try to take your weapons even if you decide to leave.
·         The gym will be fairly well secured. Guards on the doors. They will feed you and give you a cot.
·         You meet some NPCs.
·         That night, a guard is possessed and opens a door. Two dozen zombies come in. They seem to be on every exit. On the way out, they see a figure standing on a truck, ordering the zombies around.
 
5-10 days
·         Whenever people get settled, a priest will mentally attack a PC to try to get them to open a door.
·         Successfully warding off the attack will give the PC an impression of the Priest’s intentions and location. Killing the priest will stop the attacks on your stronghold and the directed attacks in the area.
·         PC can lead an assault on the zombie headquarters. Fun mission time.

 
I have no idea if this will help or not, hope it at least gives you some ideas!

Is it the gathering of friends, playing, telling a story, having fun with the game that you enjoy? If so, EotW could be just fine.
Is it the fantasy setting of playing a barbarian, or wizard, etc that is the big draw? Then maybe you'll want to create an EotW character that isn't you but someone else in another location.
Is it the 4e system with all the detailed charts, spells, weapons, defined world, etc that you love? Maybe EotW isn't for you.
I tend to believe if your group enjoys gathering and playing, you can adapt to any game. Since you love zombies, you would probably do well with it.

I don't see why you couldn't add pets as friendly NPC's or follower types. There are rules for zombie dogs in the book so just reverse engineer the rules to be alive and more or less tough depending on the breed. Maybe give pets smaller stress tracks depending on the size and such.

I have posted this in another topic but we had dog in our game… It was one of the best scenes.
 
One of the best things to come out of our last session was a dog (Staffordshire terrier) dragging along a dead body that was still clinging to its leash, stupid rigor mortis... One of the players actually had a dogtreat in his pocket so I allowed him an extra die to roll on his charisma to call the dog over. He passed and took hold of the dog's leash only to have the dead owner come to live right there and then. The rest of the party attacked the zombie only for the dog to turn on them... The player holding onto the leash was rollign dex checks over the next rounds trying to keep the dog from attacking his friends. The loud barking attracted another group of walkers nearby...

I am new to this website, although i love rpgs. does anyone think i should get this or any others? thx

Well, use the ones from the book as guidance and then your creative brain for the specifics.
Exactly what kind of NPCs? Like plot characters, plug-n-play mooks, other creatures? The only limit is your imagination/ability to conceptualize what you need to do.
I'm mostly done with my my Last of Us-styled zombies, so when I get home in a few hours I'll put em up and linky here.

So it finally happened, I finally managed to organise and GM my first EOTW session! Just thought I'd write up the experience and share it with you guys. As always thoughts and feeback very much welcome.
 
I decided to run the No Room In Hell scenario with some members of my local gaming group who are also new to rpgs. Thanks to the help I received from other members of the forum I was able to come to the table fully prepared with a quick reference guide of the games key mechanics (dice pool, stress traumas etc) and some pre planned scenarios. This made explaining the game much easier and everyone quickly got the hang of the system which was great.
 
Character creation and voting: This was interesting for a number of reasons, firstly the voting was a little awkward as the people playing were not close friends simply members of the same club. When it came to putting stats to the vote there was no voting a stat up or down.
I'd like to attibute that to the fact that everybody at the table was being open and honest about their stat values and gave a good explanation to why they chose them.
I'd imagine that in a group of close friends there would be more stat adjustment but I'm happy that everyone was honest and nobody exaggerated, also the explanation of why they chose those levels worked as a nice introduction to the other players. For example I now know that one of the players has a degree in engineering.
 
Gameplay: Our session commenced in a local pub, the owner is an avid tabletop gamer and so he has dedicated a large room upstairs to hobbying and tabletop play. I'd written ten encounters for the group to face which of course as you can probably guess went right out the window after the first fifteen minutes of play.
I used the timeline in the book to indicate that there had been increasing reports of random attacks happening in our home city and mentioned that I myself had been attacked earlier in the day, my intention being that I would be the first zombie they encountered. Of course evryone decided initially (In game) to go get a pint and go downstairs so I had to improvise and have them assaulted downstairs in the pub.
 
I decided to have a host of zombies storm the pub, instead of fighting the group decided to retreat back upstairs. However in their haste one member is shut out and left alone and unarmed facing three zombies, this resulted in that person receiving quite a bit of initial stress but the group as a whole thought it was hillarious and the player used his quick wits and grabbed a bar stool to help keep the attackers at bay. Realising they'd locked somebody out the group returned and rescued the guy stuck outside.
 
Once everyone was upstairs one of the pcs spotted a large collection of power tools and tabletop boards so decided to fortify and barricade the door ( putting those engineering skills to use) another person had managed to save an injured woman from downstairs and drag her up with us to safety. I wasn't prepared to narrate for this other survivor so I quickly had her succumb to blood loss and turn whilst the groups first aid member was seeing to her wounds. I also chose this opportune moment to write myself out and have me turn as well. The combat was quick and effective with the survivors using the nearby tools to arm themselves and take on myself and the woman.
 
Hillarity ensued though as one member attempted to finish zombie me off by swinging a chair at my head only to fail hillariously and receive enough stress in return to kill him, he then just barley made his cling to life roll, I narrated it so that he tripped as he swung the chair landing on a power tool whch caused him a serious severity level three trauma.
I ended it with the barricade downstairs being breached and the remaining pcs holding the door to the room they were in shut as the other member of the group lies severly injured nearby.
 
Summary: The thing I was shocked by the most was that in the 3 and a half hours of real time playing only 20 mins had gone by in the actual game. I loved how quickly everybody got to grips with the game and there was plenty of discussion on the positives and negatives when it came to assembling the dice pools. One of the areas I wasn't 100% solid on was the turn sequence, I tried to keep it in a turn order but there were occasions where it made more sense for certain people to take a double turn as they were the ones being attacked, was wondering how you guys handle out of sequence or hectic turn orders?
 
I was enjoying everyone using their skills and knowledge to barricade the door so felt bad having to destroy it for the sake of moving the narritive forward. I think next time we play I'll need to be a bit more forceful with the zombies to really put the pressure on the group and not have them all just hold up in the starting location. I got some great feedback from everybody and they loved the cliffhanger ending, I'm hoping this means I'll be able to organise another session soon and have it resume from the same place. All in all a very enjoyable first play through.