Breathing New Life into Zombie RPs

[KnightShade]

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert in this. I've not been in many zombie RPs but they are among the most common RPs on the site and perhaps this is why they often have very short life expectancies. If an RP idea is a dime a dozen then it's easy enough to move to another if it's failing. This thread is to discuss ways to take an original or a longer lasting spin on a zombie RP. I'd probably be interested in joining a well thought out one as well so message me if you have one. Here are some discussion points that might help:

Are zombies frightening anymore?
Are they always scary on some level, which is their appeal? Have they lost some of their affect? Is this because we think we know everything about them? How would you make them scary again?

Are zombies just a setting?
Do they pose less of a threat than human villains? Have swarms destroyed the threat of a single zombie? Is there an unequal balance between drama and action? Have they become too easy to kill?

What sort of zombies are they?
Do they have a realistic explanation? Do they need one? Is the person still in there? How is the virus spread?

How much of a plot is needed?
Is survival enough of an objective? Does the 'closed circle' still work? What set backs could you face? Can you win?

[Kadaeux]

Are Zombies frightening anymore?

I'd say no, and never were, individually or in small groups. But they weren't really supposed to be frightening in and of themselves, their 'frightening' element was the extreme difficulty in killing one, the strong possibility a character may have, or did, know particular zombies, and the fact that any humans taken by zombies simply swell their ranks. It's ironic in that by most fiction, a medieval society has almost no real trouble putting down zombies but modern society does, our numbers and density work for zombies they can spread monstrously fast. Where in a medieval society a single guy in plate and chain with a mace can put down dozens without any danger of being bitten (and thus infected.)

Are they just a setting?

No, and yes. What they HAVE done is become oversaturated with the media. They're the metaphorical goblins or bumpy forehead aliens. People are starting to go "not this again". It is VERY hard to make them a believable threat especially in this day and age as technology increases and we're reaching a point where, ten, twenty years from now a "Zombie Apocalypse" would become totally unbelievable due to basic quarantine laws and the military's ability to project force against the Zombies with drones instead of lines of men who can in turn be turned by the Zombies.

As for too easy to kill, no, most fiction depicts zombies in "our time" has harder to kill than fantasy zombies because of our reliance on firearms. Most fantasy, a good sword to chop off their heads or a mace to bash them in coupled with much lower population densities (thus less zombies) made it much easier to kill them a few hundred years ago.

What sort of Zombies are they?

Too varied to really say anything meaningful on this.

How much of a plot is needed?

Honestly, I've never actually seen one that wasn't survival based when it comes to Zombies in a modern environ.

[Kestrel]

inb4 cracked

Are zombies frightening anymore?
Are they always scary on some level, which is their appeal? Have they lost some of their affect?

Zombies are, frankly dead walking corpses. The main frightening thing about them is not their killer ability, its their numbers and the fact they were once people who are now tortured souls or something and killing your kid brother ain't so easy.

Is this because we think we know everything about them? How would you make them scary again?

Well, basically you could make the infection itself frightening as becoming a zombie is frightening. The issue is that it's fairly easy to avoid if you can like, well, run for longer than two minutes and know how to lock a door. If the infection itself would spread differently than being bitten by slow motherfuckers. Imagne it could be spread by mosquitos (which performance is unaffected by the virus.) That'd be a lot scarier. You'd be reminded of it everytime you go to sleep inside of a mosquito net smelling of lemon. And ohgod what if there's a mosquito somewhere in the room when you wake up but didn't notice it! Now set your zombie apocalypse in Africa.

Are zombies just a setting?

Undead appaer in fantasy quite commonly, so no.

Do they pose less of a threat than human villains?

Mindless walking corpses? Usually... Yes.

Have swarms destroyed the threat of a single zombie?

Likely. Look at what happens to corpses; flies and maggots and shit everywhere. They'd barely function a day. You can go without food for longer.

Is there an unequal balance between drama and action?

Depends on the story/RP in question.

Have they become too easy to kill?

Unarmoured humans moving at a snail's pace without any kind of immune system?

What sort of zombies are they?

You'd go into undead territory, which would include lichs and undead dragons. It's pretty huge.

Do they have a realistic explanation?

Probably not.

Do they need one?

Probably not.

Is the person still in there?

Probably not.

How is the virus spread?

Biting, so probably not.

How much of a plot is needed?

Honestly depends, in a roleplay survival games die quick. Usually. So having some sort of actual goal would likely help. Like; go to place X. Kill Y amount of zombies in lab Z to find the antidote. etc. Give your roleplay direction, which is pretty basic in most games but for some reason illudes a lotta zombie games out there.

Is survival enough of an objective?

No. Not in an RP, as it turns out.

Does the 'closed circle' still work?

'scuse me?

What set backs could you face?

Dragon lichs? Well, I'd assume something more intelligent knowing how to use/guide/protect their legions of walking, rotting meat. Considering that without counter-measures a living human would outlast a zombie. Longer if they had, you know, some resources. A setback could be betrayal or whatever fuck I don't know what kinda plot you're gonna use :P

Can you win?

The illusion should be there at least partially. Else we go back to survival.

[KnightShade]

Are Zombies frightening anymore?

I'd say no, and never were, individually or in small groups. But they weren't really supposed to be frightening in and of themselves, their 'frightening' element was the extreme difficulty in killing one, the strong possibility a character may have, or did, know particular zombies, and the fact that any humans taken by zombies simply swell their ranks.

I'd probably disagree with the first two reasons they're frightening at a basic level but with how they're ranks swell. I think at a core level the appeal of them in horror is they never give up or give you time to rest, kind of like the nightmare people get about being chased by a monster that won't give up. That's not something that converts well to an RP though, you have to have time to interact because if action becomes too constant it's better suited as an arena RP.

As for the three fears you describe I'll address ho well they could be applied. Making them more difficult to kill could be interesting, introducing more risk to every encounter. Knowing zombie's personally introduces opportunities for some dilemas but could teeter on the edge of moping, perhaps it is more interesting if they're people you've been roleplaying with? So from those two it might be intresting to make a zombie RP where death is introduced as a possibility from the start. Number three I think works best in a confined environment were zombies are limited in number but hard to kill.

It's ironic in that by most fiction, a medieval society has almost no real trouble putting down zombies but modern society does, our numbers and density work for zombies they can spread monstrously fast. Where in a medieval society a single guy in plate and chain with a mace can put down dozens without any danger of being bitten (and thus infected.)

So more 'primitive' settings are probably out.

Are they just a setting?

No, and yes. What they HAVE done is become oversaturated with the media. They're the metaphorical goblins or bumpy forehead aliens. People are starting to go "not this again". It is VERY hard to make them a believable threat especially in this day and age as technology increases and we're reaching a point where, ten, twenty years from now a "Zombie Apocalypse" would become totally unbelievable due to basic quarantine laws and the military's ability to project force against the Zombies with drones instead of lines of men who can in turn be turned by the Zombies.

What would be interesting however is if these protocols were turned into the premise. For example an island, a city or even a block of flats is quaratined off and the people inside have to fend for themselves. Imagine having a zombie apocalypse in Kowloon's walled city, the Chinese government would have most likely just abandoned them and may even have plans to bomb the place if it's not cleared up.

inb4 cracked

There are thousands of explanations against the points in this article. The virus toxifies the flesh. It generates it's own water for the cells. It combats other microorganisms. They're not technically dead so there immune system remains intact. Suspension of disbelief. It's on cracked.

Zombies are, frankly dead walking corpses. The main frightening thing about them is not their killer ability, its their numbers and the fact they were once people who are now tortured souls or something and killing your kid brother ain't so easy.


Well, basically you could make the infection itself frightening as becoming a zombie is frightening. The issue is that it's fairly easy to avoid if you can like, well, run for longer than two minutes and know how to lock a door. If the infection itself would spread differently than being bitten by slow motherfuckers. Imagne it could be spread by mosquitos (which performance is unaffected by the virus.) That'd be a lot scarier. You'd be reminded of it everytime you go to sleep inside of a mosquito net smelling of lemon. And ohgod what if there's a mosquito somewhere in the room when you wake up but didn't notice it! Now set your zombie apocalypse in Africa.

Them being slow isn't neccesarily a problem, with persistence and numbers. But the mosquito idea is pretty interesting. Or a Walking Dead style thig were it's airborne so everyone revives after death.

Undead appaer in fantasy quite commonly, so no.


Mindless walking corpses? Usually... Yes.

What I meant with these two is are they just wallpaper, a background for human conflict etc.

Likely. Look at what happens to corpses; flies and maggots and shit everywhere. They'd barely function a day. You can go without food for longer.

See the stuff above about the cracked article or read the Zombie Survival Guide for more alternatives.

Depends on the story/RP in question.


Unarmoured humans moving at a snail's pace without any kind of immune system?


You'd go into undead territory, which would include lichs and undead dragons. It's pretty huge.


Probably not.


Probably not.


Probably not.


Biting, so probably not.


Honestly depends, in a roleplay survival games die quick. Usually. So having some sort of actual goal would likely help. Like; go to place X. Kill Y amount of zombies in lab Z to find the antidote. etc. Give your roleplay direction, which is pretty basic in most games but for some reason illudes a lotta zombie games out there.

Yeah, basically one reason they often fail.

No. Not in an RP, as it turns out.


'scuse me?

The closed circle is limiting the region they can travel in, like the island where the murder occurs in the girl with the dragon tattoo. Basically a way of confining people in with the zombies. As I said before one like this in a very confined area hemmed in by the government could be a good take on zombies.

[Kadaeux]

As for the three fears you describe I'll address ho well they could be applied. Making them more difficult to kill could be interesting, introducing more risk to every encounter. Knowing zombie's personally introduces opportunities for some dilemas but could teeter on the edge of moping, perhaps it is more interesting if they're people you've been roleplaying with? So from those two it might be intresting to make a zombie RP where death is introduced as a possibility from the start. Number three I think works best in a confined environment were zombies are limited in number but hard to kill.

It's not a matter of making the zombies more difficult to kill, they're already difficult to kill, the trick is to avoid letting players basically aimbot

So more 'primitive' settings are probably out.

Well not quite out, but it wouldn't be a horror setting, even a mediocre soldier in chainmail a good helmet and a breastplate is practically invulnerable and a mace well, that's better than a bullet for bashing heads in.



But for any case, another way to "bring new life" into a zombie type RP is make the Zombies smarter. Most people use Romero type zombies, understandably, but make it so they're smart enough to use simple objects that they once did in life, a policezombie might still be able to fire his shotgun he's carrying (but not smart enough to reload when it runs out), a paramedizombie might be dragging around a resuscitation paddle and try to use them on things etc.