A Bit of History
What is a Zombie?
Historically, zombies are a form of possessed individual hailing from Caribbean and West African folklore. The exact nature of the zombie varies from culture to culture, but the gist of it is that a person is ritually 'killed' and brought back as a zombie, lacking will but gaining a greater level of stamina and strength. Often the means to bring a person back as a zombie involves either a potion, a possessing spirit, or sometimes both.
That is not what we think of when we think of a zombie, right? Instead modern pop culture has created a whole genre of horror and action movies based around the idea of walking and restless dead. There is even a certain canon concerning zombies, but I don't really need to tell gamers that (hint: shoot them in the head). There are also many great (and not so great) role-playing games that focus on zombie mayhem. Usually, the scenario is set as an apocalyptic one, and set in the modern day. Let's just take this great idea, that is a zombie apocalypse, and apply it to other times, other places, and other genres.
They came from Prehistory
The first sign that something was wrong was when masses of animals were seen running in a blind panic right through camp. All manner of creature, birds, lizards, predators and prey stampeded out of the darkness and plunged through the light to continue their flight back into the darkness. Next came the moaning, the sorrowful yet hungry groan heard from deep in the woods. Your small band was terrified, the shaman began to chant, the hunters took to their weapons as women and children gathered in fear. They came, fifteen walking corpses reaching out to grab and gnaw. You fought valiantly, but even the mightiest blows left them unfazed. Worse still, those they dragged down only rose to add to the monster's numbers.
Here you have your zombie survival scenario turned up to eleven. Your weapons are simple stone tools, your numbers are small, and the monsters' only increase. Like Zombies 1000 below, you are going to have to get up close and personal with the nasties. However, there is little in the way of overarching society to draw resources from, each band is on its own, at least until some enterprising heroes begin gathering refugees and tries to make a stand. For more information about playing in the prehistoric, see my four part series from the past few months.
Zombies 1000
Y2K was ten years ago, and thoughts of millennial madness have largely subsided. Looking back, when the numbers turned over to 00 would have been a good time for a zombie apocalypse. However, an even better time would have been the first big rolling of the digits (at least in the parts of the world that use the Gregorian calendar and its predecessors). There was a some millennial madness when 999 turned into 1000, so why not toss in some zombies?
At that time the Nordic cultures where at their peak, and the regions of Scandinavia (modern Norway, Denmark, and Sweden), Iceland, Greenland, and the British Isles would all make excellent settings.
This could be a Vikings versus zombies campaign, leading to more of a high action than a horror game. However, the horror could easily be ramped up to a high level of paranoia. First, you are limited to hand weapons and bows. Facing a horde of zombies armed only with your trusty axe would be a daunting task for any hero, especially if the infection is spread by bodily fluid contact and not just bites. Play up the mists, moors, dark forests, and stark beauty of the land. As society collapses in the face of the zombie hordes, themes of isolation and paranoia set in. Is that stranger infected? If we go raiding for food, how do we know if the village we aim to pillage is safe?
This is also the approximate year that Leif Erikson made his first voyage to North America. Perhaps the zombie outbreak began in Eurasia, spread to Europe, and then was brought to the New World by a group of wandering Norsemen? It could then lie dormant in the artic, spreading slowly through the thinly scattered population, only to reach a critical mass years or centuries laterÖ
New World of Death
What happened to the Roanoke Colony? This has been a historical mystery for centuries. For those of you not in the know, in 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh established an English Colony at Roanoke, Virginia. The colony was small, barely over a hundred people, and faced many hardships in its first year. There were shortages of food, trouble with the neighboring First Nations (who had been attacked by an earlier colony), and a lack of support from the home country. The colony's leader set out late in 1587 to sail to England and seek additional aid, but the war with Spain delayed his return for three years. When he finally made it back to the colony, everyone was gone and the only clue was the word 'Croatanî carved into a tree.
What if it was zombies? What if the New World was filled with the remains of a zombie apocalypse? For our zombies here, they are spread by a disease (and only by a bite), infect only humans, are slow, dumb, and very strong. They also wiped out Roanoke, eating or turning the entire colony. Due to the low population density of the Americas, they are advancing slowly south from their origins in the arctic, but soon they will contact the large settlements of the Mississippi River basin. From there their numbers will swell, picking up more 'recruits' as they pass through the Puebloan towns of the Southwest before slamming into Mexico.
Can the virus spread beyond the Western hemisphere? It depends on the incubation period. If it is a short time between bite and zombiefication, than a ship trying to cross the Atlantic will likely become adrift or sink before the crossing is made. If you need to for your campaign, than by all means allow a zombie crewed ship to wash up on the shores of France or England. If the incubation period is long a sailor might step ashore in Europe before turning all bitey.
This is a standard zombie apocalypse campaign, but the true twist is setting it in the New World. Civilization is scattered and there is a lot of open space to play in. The interplay between First Nation, English, and Spanish PCs sets the stage for some drama. Don't forget that although your characters will have access to guns, they are slow, unreliable, and inaccurate. A campaign of Europeans trying to keep the zombie horde contained to its continent would also be fun, imagine seek and destroy missions in the heart of the virgin old growth forests of the Eastern Seaboard. How long will it take to eradicate the threat, and will the nations of Europe work together? Have a Spanish don scheme to release zombies in England (after all it's an island, and thus can be contained), and you now have a villain with a dastardly plot.
The Aftermath
Its 1916 and the pain and sorrow of the Great War have swept in waves across the world. This psychic disturbance has awakened the hungry dead. Zombies descend on the trenches of Allies and the Central Powers alike. Machineguns and shells rake the restless dead, but even maimed they carry on. The few neutral nations are the only ones able to hold things together, and even they are strained to the breaking point. The world needs heroes, but have the heroes already been spent in the first years of the madness?
The PCs could be anyone, though soldiers (of both sides) would suit the setting best. They must overcome their differences and work together to survive in a nightmarish landscape made even worse by the appearance of the walking dead. Sure they have weapons, but how long will their ammo hold out? The campaign can go from one of survival horror to one of epic adventure as they seek a way to lay the dead to rest and save the world.
Next month is the anniversary of "A Bit of History" and in celebration we'll be bringing you a double-sized issue packed with all new content (well sort of, it is history after all). Look forward to May for the Mythic West and a survey of historical role-playing games, as requested by Thalba the Destroyer (and when someone with that name requests something, you have to comply). Until then, I hope you enjoyed this braiiiin braiiiiins braiiiiins ...
In the meantime, if you want to read more, the March 2010 issue of Steve Jackson Games' Pyramid Magazine features an article by yours truly titled "Shovel Bums". In it I describe the nuts and bolts of modern archaeology and provide a campaign framework of itinerant archaeologists traveling the country, excavating lost ruins, and using the mystic knowledge contained therein to thwart the Things from Beyond Space and Time!
