I'll admit it in public, I was a fan of zombies before zombies were cool. Even as a little kid, I was a huge fan of stuff like the classic Resident Evil games for the original Sony Playstation, as well as the zombie films of the late great George A. Romero, and I even like some of the Italian grindhouse knock-off zombie films released in the late 1970's and 1980's (think stuff like Zombi 2 and Hell of The Living Dead) although I do not like the fast zombies that were popular in the early 2000's such as the ones in Left 4 Dead or the disgraceful 2004 Zack Snyder remake of Dawn of the Dead.
And oddly enough, I don't really care for AMC's The Walking Dead. It's not a bad show but I just didn't really follow it all that much. But I do love the original films that started it all, and those are the Living Dead Films of the late great George A. Romero.
Romero basically invented the zombie genre as we know it today. Before him, zombies were a solitary monster largely tied to the voodoo folktales of Haiti and Louisiana, and were nothing at all like we imagine them today. But George Romero changed all of that with 1968's Night of the Living Dead and its two dynamic apocalyptic sequels Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985)
In many ways, George Romero did to zombies what Bram Stoker did to vampires. He codified the modern image of the monster in pop culture. It's only natural that I want to help carry on his legacy in the world of old-school gaming. So I have decided to revive a little project of mine.
A few months back on the Original Dungeons & Dragons ProBoards forum, I made a post talking about the potential of Dawn of the Dead as a setting for OD&D, specifically in the context of the core "White Box" rules and using only the core three booklets and some homebrew to account for guns and modern armor. It was not perfect, but it had a good reception and some good ideas, including using the Monroeville Mall as a mega-dungeon.
So, now I am bringing the idea back and in greater detail.
For the sake of clarity, this fan supplement is presented as a fifth supplement to the main four official OD&D supplements from the 1970's, which were Greyhawk (1975), Blackmoor (1975), Eldritch Wizardry (1976), and Gods Demigods & Heroes (1976) and I am not counting Swords & Spells as a supplement as it is not numbered and is more of a reprint of the miniature wargaming rules from Chainmail, but with D&D's trade dress.
Dungeons & Dragons
Supplement V: The Living Dead
Based on the universe of George A. Romero's three films Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), and Day of the Dead (1985) with the bulk of the material and inspiration taken from Dawn of the Dead
Supplement V draws mostly from the three core booklets from 1974: Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures and does not need to incorporate any extra rules from the four supplements to function.
In a Living Dead campaign, it is assumed that the PC's are all Fighting Men and that the game does not contain Magic-Users, Clerics, or any of the supplementary classes. That being said, the Referee can choose to include Magic-Users, Clerics, and any other material from the game if they wish.
All Hit Dice are measured in d6's as is all weapon damage, just like in the core rules. A lot of weapons and armor have been re-skinned to fit the setting and tone of Romero's films.
Weapons, Armor, Equipment, & Wealth
The coinage system of OD&D is replaced with American dollars
Armor is functionally the same, but re-skinned to fit the modern context of Romero's world. These would be the types of armor available, with their mechanical OD&D equivalents listed in parentheses
Leather Jacket (Leather Armor)
Police Vest (Chain Mail)
Military Flak Jacket (Full Plate Mail)
Motorcycle Helmet (Small Shield)
Army Helmet (Large Shield)
Weapons would also be re-skinned. Guns function the same as bows and crossbows, and do not have any extra special mechanics in regards to armor class or proficiency.
These are the Living Dead weapons, with their OD&D equivalent in parentheses. All the firearms are actual firearms depicted in Romero's original zombie movies.
Melee Weapons
Baseball Bat (Club)
Hunting Knife (Dagger)
Pool Cue (Quarterstaff)
Nunchaku (Sap)
Machete (Short Sword)
Katana (Sword)
Pitchfork (Spear)
Hammer (Mace)
Hatchet (Hand Axe)
Firefighter's Axe (Battle Axe)
Guns
Revolver (Rohm RG-38)
Semi-Automatic Pistol (Colt M1911)
Magnum Revolver (Smith & Wesson Model 629)
Hunting Rifle (Winchester 94)
Assault Rifle (Colt M16A1)
Pump-Action Shotgun (Ithaca Model 37)
Sub-Machine Gun (IMI Uzi)
Monsters & Enemies
A lot of the basic enemies in Original Dungeons & Dragons can be re-skinned for a Living Dead campaign.
Zombies can be represented as written, with ghouls standing in for tougher zombies (think Bub in Day of the Dead or Big Daddy in Land of the Dead)
Bandits can be used for ordinary looters and common criminals such as the gang members at the beginning of Dawn of the Dead or the redneck posse at the end of Night of the Living Dead
Brigands can be used for more hardcore survivalist enemies such as the biker gang in Dawn of the Dead
Men-At-Arms can represent military and law enforcement personnel, such as the soldiers in Day of the Dead or the SWAT officers in Dawn of the Dead
The Campaign Itself
This type of OD&D game would lend itself well to open-world sandbox games where the goal is mainly to explore, survive, and plunder for more supplies as long as possible. If you level up enough, you could establish a small compound of fellow survivors, similar to the strongholds in OD&D.
The mall from Dawn of the Dead and the military facilities from Day of the Dead would both be excellent examples of in-game dungeons.
In my next post, I will be posting write-ups for several characters from the Living Dead Trilogy.
