Provisional Zombie rules

 OK, this is the first draft and obviously subject to revision... There will be lots of mistakes and things that don't work...

Zombie Rules

Zombie generation:

Zombies come from somewhere. In most games this will be a single source point – a particular building or road. The suggestion is that players roll 1or 2 D6 at the start of each move and that number of zombies appear at the generation point.

Human responses:

It is assumed that the humans would probably not recognise the threat at first. Therefore humans cannot respond until the first ‘victim’ has been attacked – best to place a NPC as the victim! ‘Normal’ spotting rules apply to see if this attack has been noticed. NPCs that spot the attack and don’t freeze will flee directly away from the scene of the attack. Player characters that spot the attack will decide on their actions with movement limited according to a movement die roll! They might freeze!

Move sequence:

1. Test for bitten humans 'turning'

2. ‘Spotting’ by zombie.

3. Humans spot, move and/or fire distance weapons. One option per move segment.

4. Zombies move pro rata depending on shooting results

5. Humans fight with close combat weapons

6. Zombies and humans fight in combat, humans now classed as unarmed. They’ve had their shot!

Movement:

Zombies shuffle around at 4” per move until they ‘spot’ a live human. They will then move towards the nearest spotted human or body of humans at 6” per move, but will increase this to 8” per move if rolling 6 on a D6.

Zombies spot humans and humans spot zombies in line of sight: 

8” or less automatically, 

Over 8” to 16” on rolling 3 or above, 

Over 16” on rolling 5 or above.   

After the initial spotting it is assumed that zombies and humans are aware of each other and spotting checks only have to be made on humans in cover.

Zombies within 6” of a zombie that has spotted a live human will follow that zombie. Likewise, any human that spots a zombie and chooses to run can be followed by other humans within 8” – it is assumed that the human yells something along the lines of ‘RUN! ZOMBIE!

Humans in cover can also be spotted within 8" if the human rolls a 1, or a body of 3 or more humans rolling 1 or 2.

Humans can move up to 6” per move. If a zombie gets within 8” this will increase to 8” per move on rolling a 6, but will ‘freeze’ and remain stationary if they roll a 1. Dice rolling is mandatory...

A human can choose to stay and fight or run, but will obviously have to fight if contacted while frozen. If caught while running, humans do not get to fight using the close combat weapons option 4 - it's straight to 5!

Furthermore, humans get tired – at the start of every subsequent move the human must roll a D6. Roll a 1 and s/he has to stop for a breather for that round – but can still fight!

Weapons’ fire:

Revolvers/automatic pistols range up to 6”, shotguns up to 9”, rifles, etc up to 12”

All handguns/rifles/shotguns can fire up to 3 times per move, one shot for each third of the move. If the zombie reaches the human before the third shot can be fired treat the firearm as a close combat weapon. How far a zombie moves depends on the result of a dice roll. Roll up to 3 dice in sequence:

Roll 6, zombie hit and killed in first segment of the move and shooter has two shots left that can be aimed at another zombie.

Roll 4, 5 zombie hit in second segment. Roll again, 4, 5 or 6 zombie destroyed; shooter has one shot left that can be aimed at another zombie.

Roll 2, 3 zombie hit in third segment. Roll again, 4, 5 or 6 zombie destroyed; no more shots can be fired.

Roll 1, gun jammed, no more firing that round. Gun can be cleared in next round by rolling 4, 5 or 6.

Note this means, for example, hit a zombie with a rifle on first dice roll, zombie moves 2”   and ‘dies’. Second dice it moves 4” and ‘dies’. On third dice it moves 6" or drops at the shooter’s feet. Subsequent targets will move their relevant amount, third dice and again zombie possibly drops at shooter’s feet! Or can drop at shooter’s feet on first or second shot if that’s how far the zombie gets!

Close combat:

Anyone armed with a close combat weapon or distance weapon that has not been fired 3 times can get in the first blow. Note a distance weapon that has jammed is counted as having already fired 3 times!

There is no real distinction made as to the weapon type: sword, club, baseball bat, chainsaw... except knives need a 5 or 6 to ‘kill’ and guns can only use remaining shots!

Zombie killed on roll of 4 or more. If human rolls a 6 the weapon can then be used on another zombie in contact, another 6 and a third zombie can be engaged with a weapon. Distance weapons still have their 3 times maximum use!

After weapons use, it is assumed that human and zombie are grappling with each other and no weapons used. Human rolls 3 D6, zombie rolls 1 D6. For the human, choose the highest scoring dice. The highest score ‘wins’ and loser ‘dies’. Against a second opponent, human rolls 2 dice, if a third zombie is engaged human rolls 1 die. No more than 3 zombies can engage a human in a move. If the result is a draw move to the next zombie. 

Even if a human wins a combat they may have been bitten. Roll d6 at start of next move: 1 human has been bitten. If so, roll again, 1 turns that move, 2 turns following move. A zombie that turns will attack the nearest human.

Any humans still alive and in combat next round start the sequence again. Humans cannot and zombies will not disengage from a combat – no human can leave combat until it is no longer in contact with a zombie!