Infection Z ~ It's Finished

I've written and test-played and re-written (and then done it again and again... And then again). Now I've run out of things to add or edit so I guess I've finished it. Now what?

I intend to publish it on Wargames Vault but I think it needs some other eyes to look at it and give it a go. How do I do this? That's what I'm now trying to sort out. If you're reading this and you're interested in doing some play testing leave me a message.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I recently replayed the three game mini-campaign that I've been using for play-testing. This time I created a new group of survivors for a different flavour. The new group didn't seem as strong as the group I had been using but they did have some better skills and tricks up their collective sleeves. Surprisingly, for what I thought was a weaker group, they performed better.

After the three games none of the characters died although some came close. The character that came the closest to dying was the best close combat fighter. She didn't go down due to jumping in and trying to kill everything in sight but because she got swarmed by the game mechanic. Only the efforts of the other characters kept her alive and eventually carried off the table. As far as I'm concerned that was a great piece of high adrenaline drama.

Another character (the cheapest option) ended up with a bum leg and a shotgun. He constantly ended up in bad situations and more than once I thought: "Okay, he's finished." But he managed to get out of trouble every time. And, through 3 games he never got a scratch. Not once.

Game 1 is a gauntlet run. 8 turns to get from one end of the road and off the other end. There's a bit of loot to find on the way but time is short.

This is my apex close-combat sword fighting killer (a familiar character, no doubt. This lovely figure is from Hasslefree).

The cultist is part of the scenario. A guy walking around clanging a bell and shouting  about the end of the world being nigh. He attracts Unwanted Attention. I didn't have a better figure so I raided my pulp cultists.

The old guy with a shotgun. There is an pre-generated "Old Timer" character that can be selected but this figure below ended up almost identical to the Old Timer as a result of random generation.

Game 2 is about getting through a gridlocked area of the city. This game goes for 10 turns and follows on directly from Game 1. The idea is that the group is having a bad day getting out of the city center. In this one they start in the top left corner and escape via the empty road in the bottom right.

In the pic below some of the group set off down an alley. Game wise it looked like a clear path but the game also generates random zombies and events popping up. That's what happened here. One zombie turned into four and while it wasn't overwhelming it slowed progress for a few turns.

The figure below in the center is my new Leader. The leader can be the best fighter if you want but I made him the best all-rounder. A good zombie killer but it's the other skills I gave him that make him the strongest character.

The old guy (Harry) in one of his sticky situations. He got charged by a Frenzy Zombie but managed to blow its head off before it got him.

Harry moved on but found the gate being held shut and he was stuck out in the street. This was because I thought he was going to die so I was willing to sacrifice him for the sake of the rest. The photo doesn't show the zombies behind the fence or the others out of sight beneath the camera.

After killing off the zombies at the fence Harry was again in a bad situation. This time I was sure he was going to die. Two Frenzy Zombies. One in front and one behind. I don't remember how he got out of it and I'm sure a lot of it was pure lucky dice rolling.

Part of this scenario is a factory/workshop area where the group can try and scavenge stuff. In the pic above they've been through the building and now they're exiting the back door. In the pic below an armed looter has later shown up to try and pilfer some of their loot.

Game 3 follows on again and sees the group in a park with some police and a TV news crew. They're all surrounded and will have to fight their way out. Each game starts with about a dozen zombies and more arrive as the game progresses. Game 3 starts with a few more zeds but it escalates faster and becomes far more deadly.

Between the games the characters have the chance to roll their Fortitude dice pool. Every success they roll allows them to regain a 1 Life Point. (Average LP is 10. The higher ranked characters have 12LP and the Leader has 15LP.)

Again, the riot police held off the bulk of the zombies and they put up a good fight due to their equipment. But eventually the weight of zombie numbers brought them down (again). And every time one of the cops goes down there's a surge of zed-heads.

This is where my fighting lady got hit hard. This pic was taken as she was on her last legs. The intervention of the Leader and Harry the old guy managed to keep her alive but not before she was on the ground and with a high chance of Turning Zed!

Below - Just when it looked like the road was clear and the TV crew and some of the group could make it to safety a mob of rotters came up the road and started biting. It was good to see that the lady TV presenter (unarmed) and just through sheer luck managed to kill a zombie with her bare hands (or maybe her microphone) and escape. But she was the only NPC that did escape off the table.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyhow this wasn't supposed to be a full battle report or anything, just a post to say that everything is written and ready for other people to look at it. All the page setting & formatting is done for a basic first draft. When I read it, it makes sense to me but will it make sense to anyone else? That's what I need to know.