Zombie Combat Questions

[DtMK]

I just saw something in the DR book about conversions into other game settings like Rifts and Robotech. And believe it or not, the zombies from Dear Reign might put up a far greater fight than people initially would suspect!

Not only are they MDC creatures so ordinary SC weapons won't affect them, the mystic aspect makes them proportionally tougher! Lasers and other energy attacks would do NO damage. Neither would rail guns or other MDC ranged attacks unless you made called shots to their heads. and even Vibro-Blades do 1/3 damage. Magic weapons would do full, but good luck finding them in Robotech. Ordinary fire would do normal damage, magic does double damage. So yes, frying them with your thrusters might work, but when hordes of shambling people come at you biting, you don't usually think about tactics when you've got a huge mech and cannon. So slugging it out with shorter undead in robots might be a greater fight than you think, unless you're packing molotovs and plasma weapons, and then you have to worry about flaming zombies clawing at you. Proportionally, this CAN be a threat in higher tech worlds and MDC settings.

And I think the whole no damage unless a headshot goes in part to comparisons like the Undead Juicer, and being in a magic rich environment helps restore or make them immune somehow. Me, I'd say while not doing direct damage, perhaps they can pin a zombie to the ground, tree, walls, etc.

[DtMK]

Well if we were talking about the Rifter #40 version, Brulyx would be responsible. But my take is that, zombies by nature are more than animated dead, but undead. Weak/nonexistent magic or not, they're something that is more than the natural world, hence supernatural by nature. They're more than a drug induced state by zombie powder used by practitioners of voodoo. They function even with no organs other than the brain functioning, are animated and walking P.P.E. batteries. Magical energy, supernatural creature by definition = magical. At least, that's just my opinion.

[DtMK]

I'm REALLY trying not to beat an undead horse here. People know how I feel about the Rifter #40 version compared to the main book. But zombies themselves are an X-Factor. Are they reanimated by nanites, an unknown virus, a spell, act of God or magic? The zombies were initially created with magic and psionics as part of their core, if not a definition as to what kinds of zombies existed. When it was re-written, it tried to knock the magical nature down to make for a more traditional horror movie feel. P.P.E. is the main part of what the zombies feed upon in both versions, so there IS some degree of magic, it's just not available for the players as it's currently written.

Besides, the part of them being magical in a MAGIC-RICH or MDC environment becomes a moot point if you don't plan on bringing them into a game like Robotech, Splicers or Rifts. So if it's a modern setting, then you shouldn't have to worry about it.

*sigh* When did I end up defending the non-magic for gamer's preferences for DR?

[kevarin]

amsterdam i would think that a normal person doesn't have enough PPE to cast magic
but at the time of there death there PPE doubles if the zombies can store what they
dont need then the more they kill the more PPE they have making them magical
that would be how i would explain it if the question came up in a game
i was running hope this helps

[DtMK]

This thread is about zombie combat. I started a new thread to focus on the differences in magic and P.P.E. compared to the various worlds of Dead Reign. If you want to talk about the magic stuff, let's take it there.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic on zombie combat.

[Nightbreed]

I'm REALLY trying not to beat an undead horse here. People know how I feel about the Rifter #40 version compared to the main book. But zombies themselves are an X-Factor. Are they reanimated by nanites, an unknown virus, a spell, act of God or magic? The zombies were initially created with magic and psionics as part of their core, if not a definition as to what kinds of zombies existed. When it was re-written, it tried to knock the magical nature down to make for a more traditional horror movie feel. P.P.E. is the main part of what the zombies feed upon in both versions, so there IS some degree of magic, it's just not available for the players as it's currently written.

Besides, the part of them being magical in a MAGIC-RICH or MDC environment becomes a moot point if you don't plan on bringing them into a game like Robotech, Splicers or Rifts. So if it's a modern setting, then you shouldn't have to worry about it.

*sigh* When did I end up defending the non-magic for gamer's preferences for DR?

I am just trying to understand how there are magical zombies in a setting where magic just simply does NOT exist.

Well, some people (like myself) are sticking with the Rifter #40 version where a mystical ritual tried to bring the demon Brulyx to our world thus making the zombies magic based and the book does state dark magic as a possible cause for the zombie plague but the "average" person would discount it. "there's no such thing as magic"

This thread is about zombie combat. I started a new thread to focus on the differences in magic and P.P.E. compared to the various worlds of Dead Reign. If you want to talk about the magic stuff, let's take it there.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled topic on zombie combat.

Regarding ryuto's #3 point, if it comes down to hand to hand against the zombies, while your ideas have merit, i wish you well because i think you'll be joining the ranks of the undead. It would work if it was against one zombie, but not against several unless you have some serious martial arts skills. Though stranger things are possible.