Zombies are everywhere. But today's article isn't about zombies. It's about using all the elements that make zombies so popular to help defeat just about any role-playing game opponent.

A large part of zombie survival is militarizing a civilian populace. Zombie survival is good survival in general; exchange the word "zombie" with "orc" or "mutant" or "alien" and much of the same tactics still apply. There's a wealth of material online that can be easily tweaked for enterprising player characters.

Zombie survival tactics are all the rage, as epitomized by Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide. The dirty secret is that zombie survival tactics are suitable for any survival situation. In times of crisis, personal defense is just as important as food and water. There are dozens of resources on the Internet – a good place to start is the Zombie Survival & Defense Wiki.

A major part of zombie survival is violence. There are only so many ways to kill zombies and most defense techniques focus on firearms. But for blades, nothing beats Zombie Tools.

Zombies work in many different ways. Depending on how they operate, they could be classified as vampires, ghouls, or even automatons. Tweaking how the zombie plague spreads, how they eat, and how long they survive can change a traditional zombie into another monster. The Zombie Research Society has a treasure trove of ideas as to how zombies work.

And of course if you're looking for the latest news on zombies, I would be remiss in not mentioning my own blog, the National Center for Reanimation Prevention and Control.

Your Turn: What zombie-killing sources do you use in your game?

---

You can follow Michael Tresca on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/dredspace and Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dreadspace.