First Dead Reign game

[DM Cojo]

So I just ran my first game of Dead Reign. I have owned the books for a while, but until I did a marathon viewing of "The Walking Dead" and "World War Z" I wasn't that into the genre...now I am hooked.

This was also my first Palladium game I have run in over twenty years, and I was happy that the system came back to me fairly quickly.

I do have one question that came up in my campaign. The zombies they fought (all slouchers) had 20 HP in the head, not even counting the S.D.C. This made them hard to kill. I had characters hit them in the head 2-3 times to kill them with a 9mm. Obviously, they were easier to take down in "The Walking Dead" show, but that is T.V. But I think that is what my players were expecting. One player accused me of "cheating" by making the zombies too tough, until I showed him the stats in the book. I was considering knocking down the HP and SDC a bit to make them a bit less tough to kill individually. Any thoughts?

[filo_clarke]

There are a few ways to handle this problem, using existing rules in other Palladium games.

First: Books like the Compendium of Contemporary Weapons state that a Point-Blank shot from a firearm inflicts double damage, while Heroes Unlimited states that it inflicts full damage to SDC and half damage to Hit Points, so if they are constantly in the thick of battle, they are inflicting damage to both SDC and HP simultaneously. Also bear in mind that at Point-Blank range you are at a bonus of between +1 and +7, or even automatically guaranteed to hit (according to page 182 of Dead Reign)

Second: "Use Common Sense" on page 14 of the Compendium of Contemporary Weapons is a few paragraphs about treating the damage from firearms realistically. It's original purpose was to dissuade players who have made characters with boat-loads of SDC from wading into gunfire with no fear, but it applies equally well to killing zombies.

Third: Page 16 of the Compendium of Contemporary Weapons gives rules for dividing Hit Points up among Body Parts, thereby making the overall damage to the head much easier to overcome. Specifically, the Head should have 24% of the total HP (yeah, why not 25%? I don't know. But, the book states 24%, go figure.) This would make the Head Hit Points for a typical Sloucher 4 or 5, so much more reasonable. This is a much more accurate rule, since when using the rules that Hit Points went to whichever place they were needed, it meant that if you attacked the SDC of the pinkie-finger, all of the HP would go "there". If you caught a Zombie's pinkie in a hydraulic vice, and inflicted 100 points of damage to it, all of the body's HP would be destroyed, and the zombie would collapse.

Fourth: The Knockdown Impact Table found in Heroes Unlimited / Villains Unlimited and other places, means that PCs and zombies can be knocked prone by inflicting large amounts of damage to them. Since that damage is never stated to be unaffected by modifiers from range or Criticals, then a Point-Blank firearm shot to a zombie (inflicting an extra 50% - 100% to Hit Points) has a pretty good chance of also knocking it down.

Fifth: This only applies to human/animal NPCs/PCs, but the rules for Tissue Damage Rating, Penetration Value, Damage Penalties by Hit Location, Shock, and Blood loss make the prospect of being shot truly terrifying (actually, stabbed too, according to page 15 of the Compendium of Contemporary Weaponry). If your players are complaining that killing a zombie is too hard, throw all of these rules into the game, and give them a feel for how much damage weapons can truly inflict.

Now, if you are going to use some/any of these rules in your game, I recommend that they apply to the human characters as well as the zombies. Having your HP divided among your body parts means that your main body Hit Points are proportionately lower (50%, to be specific). Using Shock, Blood Loss, Penetration Value, and Tissue Damage rules become easy and routine once you have played with them for a few sessions, and makes the game more deadly for both PCs and NPCs alike.

I hope some of that helps.

[SittingBull]

So I just ran my first game of Dead Reign. I have owned the books for a while, but until I did a marathon viewing of "The Walking Dead" and "World War Z" I wasn't that into the genre...now I am hooked.

This was also my first Palladium game I have run in over twenty years, and I was happy that the system came back to me fairly quickly.

I do have one question that came up in my campaign. The zombies they fought (all slouchers) had 20 HP in the head, not even counting the S.D.C. This made them hard to kill. I had characters hit them in the head 2-3 times to kill them with a 9mm. Obviously, they were easier to take down in "The Walking Dead" show, but that is T.V. But I think that is what my players were expecting. One player accused me of "cheating" by making the zombies too tough, until I showed him the stats in the book. I was considering knocking down the HP and SDC a bit to make them a bit less tough to kill individually. Any thoughts?

If you want them to do more damage to the zombies head, without weakening the zombies, add in the point blank damage rule for guns.

[SittingBull]

Note point blank rules for guns in dead reign and other games are different. Dead reign it only helps you hit and doesnt help damage. In other game it doesnt help you hit, for the most part, but does damage to sdc and hp. I also say if any hp is taken the zombie is out of it, because the brain is damaged.

[SittingBull]

If your game is online let me know also, thanks.

[DM Cojo]

If your game is online let me know also, thanks.

It is an in-person game, sorry. The only game I run online right now is Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.

[DM Cojo]

Thanks for the input guys...I like the idea of using the knockdown table as well as the one about any headshot of significant damage is a kill shot. I will have to investigate further. I also have the contemporary weapons book, but haven't read it. I may need to check it out.

[SittingBull]

If your game is online let me know also, thanks.

It is an in-person game, sorry. The only game I run online right now is Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.

Thank you.

[Tor]

So I just ran my first game of Dead Reign. I have owned the books for a while, but until I did a marathon viewing of "The Walking Dead" and "World War Z"

Initially was thinking you meant Z-Nation at first before I remembered this was a flick. If it was a complete TWD/Z-Nation marathon without pause I would be impressed.

[Tor]

Books like the Compendium of Contemporary Weapons state that a Point-Blank shot from a firearm inflicts double damage
Heroes Unlimited states that it inflicts full damage to SDC and half damage to Hit Points

I just don't know what to choose, so perhaps I should simply apply both? Full damage to HP, double damage to SDC?

Rifts Conversion Book page 17 optional rules are like HU if anyone is curious, also says full SDC and half HP. It also mentions that striking immobile targets at 10 ft or less is automatic and you don't need to roll, so none of that 'I need a natural strike' problems with hitting the head/neck. That said: since I'm more of a 'dodge the aim' kind of guy, I think if you're within 10ft but within arm's reach of a zombie (ie they just managed to punch you) that it should be possible for them to parry or entangle your firing arm. Might require some house ruling there.

RCBp17 also includes some interesting optional tables. The first for point blank from SDC projectile or energy attacks where you can roll percentile to see if they're stunned, knocked down, or knocked unconscious. It also includes a separate table for point blank to head or heart with more severe penalties. Although they're based on living beings, not sure if DRzombies can go into comas.

why not 25%? I don't know. But, the book states 24%, go figure.

Obviously 6/25 damage is easier to calculate than 1/4.

Perhaps DRzombies have more damage capacity there because the magical process which animates them hardens their heads to make them more resistant to death. We should be careful not to rely too much on assumptions about human mechanics.

Fourth: The Knockdown Impact Table found in Heroes Unlimited / Villains Unlimited and other places, means that PCs and zombies can be knocked prone by inflicting large amounts of damage to them. Since that damage is never stated to be unaffected by modifiers from range or Criticals, then a Point-Blank firearm shot to a zombie (inflicting an extra 50% - 100% to Hit Points) has a pretty good chance of also knocking it down.

Nice! Especially if you combine the rules as I suggest, then you're basically doing triple damage, sextuple if rolling a crit.

Fifth: This only applies to human/animal NPCs/PCs, but the rules for Tissue Damage Rating, Penetration Value, Damage Penalties by Hit Location, Shock, and Blood loss make the prospect of being shot truly terrifying (actually, stabbed too, according to page 15 of the Compendium of Contemporary Weaponry). If your players are complaining that killing a zombie is too hard, throw all of these rules into the game, and give them a feel for how much damage weapons can truly inflict.

Zombies are still animals, right? Just undead animals...

Can't remember if they bleed or if DR talks about whether or not blood loss rules apply to them or not.

Extra special blood loss rules: if you combine the 1 HP per melee round from PF, the 1 HP per minute from HU, and the 1 SDC per minute from RIFTS.

[Eric42]

I would have made the stats of the zombies low overall for the first few sessions to begin with. That'd mean the hp would have been 16-17 (1d6+15) and the SDC would have been 26-27 (2d6+14).
I'd give them the hint to aim at other limbs. If they depletes the SDC of the neck, the head is decapitated (p.37). HP doesn't come in effect.
And finally, tell them to make sure they are keeping track of bonuses, esp. pluses to damage, else they are making it harder for themselves.
In the long run, it seems easier to hit and damage the main body of the zombie and given the zombies don't parry/dodge (most of the time), they should hit more often this way.