New Dead Reign DM. Could use some guidance.

[SanguineHaze]

Hi folks.

I'm not sure how active these forums are these days, but it looks like there's still a little life around here so I figured that it'd be a great place to ask some questions and get some general guidance regarding a campaign I'd like to put together.

First off, I'm not an "old hat" at being GM / DM. I've played a few D&D campaigns and given ideas to the GM/DM's of those games, but on the whole never ran anything myself, so if you have any general tips on how to GM specifically Dead Reign, that'd be great.

Second, I did a trial run this weekend with my cousin, his wife, and my fiance. All in all, it was a pretty good time but there are a few things I found infuriating with Dead Reign.

1) Character Creation. Picking your OCC was... to put it nicely... a cluster*#$&. It was a nightmare of "where do we find this information??". All things totaled, it took my three players several hours to create their characters. Even the fastest was nearly 2 hours, and the slowest was just shy of 5 hours. 5 hours of character creation. This should just not happen. Ever. There are way too many vague points and skills that then affect a ton of other skills (outdoorsman, for example).

Is there a faster, better, way to do this? Is there a character creator online? Or, does it just get easier as you get more familiar with the game?

2) Combat Mechanics. Oh god, the combat mechanics. They're awful so far. They make little to no sense. Why would we re-roll initiative at the start of each turn? Why do we round-robin through the number of attacks? It's so much to keep track of, particularly the larger the group gets and the more NPC's are involved in a fight. Compared to the streamlined and simple actions of D&D, this feels like an incredibly over-complicated system. Additionally... it only really mentions "melee attacks", and from what I read it seems like ranged attacks all are based off of how many melee actions you have...

So, again, is there a better way to do this? How the hell have you guys been keeping track of turns so far? Have any of you successfully transitioned a D&D group into paying a Palladium campaign? How'd you get around this combat problem?

On the whole, I love the idea of a Dead Reign campaign; there's a ton of great ideas in the source books I have, and the loot tables and roll tables are insanely awesome... I'm just not sure on the mechanics. Even if I ignore the issues with the stupid amount of time it takes to set up a character, the fighting just feels sloppy and broken... and I really want to get around that, since this has so much potential for a fantastically fun campaign.

[SanguineHaze]

Update: I've re-re-read the manual, and I believe I've answered some of my own questions by doing so. Combat seems to be a little less confusing now that I've spent a few more hours on it, and I think I've got a grasp on character creation as well.

I think, going forward, what I may do is have the PC'S use the quick-start stats instead of rolling for everything, and I may set up a bank of pre-gen characters just waiting to have their bio section filled in.

I also noticed that survivors don't have a skill progression, which I think I'll address by either adding wandering skilled survivors willing to teach others (at a penalty, of course. You won't be able to be a master welder in a week of lessons after all). I may also add in a system for self-teaching skills (within reason), sort of like finding a "Computers for Dummies" book.

I would still be very interested in any resources you guys could point me to for useful things you've used in your campaigns. Thank you.

[Zer0 Kay]

First unless your a Dead Master it isn't DM it is GM
GM tips depend on your style if you are the type that believes that fun is important then let your players imaginations run rampant. If they are experienced gamers plan for more of a sandbox style play where anything that wouldn't break physics and could be feasibly done with the character's skills should be permitted. Sandbox as apposed to railroad or module style play. In Sandbox you essentially referee and play the NPC and give goals while in railroad/module you play the part of the computer running the software that your friends are playing a text based adventure on. In Sandbox you and the players make the story in railroad/module the players act out your story or suffer the consequences.

Um... long character creation does happen. It is normal for PB. There are just more choices than there are in D&D. Shure a D&D player can make it take longer if he is trying to go through and figure out which class has the most DPT at level xx or worse what combination of classes but for the most part D&D is pick class, roll stats, distribute skill points and buy best possible equipment, never mind that in D&D class selection isn't stressful as multi-classing is allowed later. PB you have to research what class you want to be because by most rules you can't multi-class, then you have to roll, then you have to pick skills and get percentages and then you have a ton of equipment to pick through. I figure the skills is probably the most time consuming of the entire process... as long as your familiar with the books and where to find stuff.

Same reason your supposed to round robin with attacks in D&D. Because one person moves and while they are moving the other person is doing something else etc. etc. etc. It is far less realistic for you to shoot from behind cover, run over to some other cover, shoot again and then run up into melee range of his opponent the entire time the opponent is doing? Without round robin that is what it is what happens. Melee attacks aren't just melee attacks, they're called that because it is a called a melee round which is called that because... I don't know Kevin wanted to call it that, because a no point from Mechanoids to Dead Reign has just melee attacks happened in the melee round. Would it have been better to call it the combat round... maybe. Your comparing a system that really hasn't been updated for more than at least 20 years to one that used to have THAC0 and has seen four major overhauls to simplify it for those who couldn't understand THAC0? Not really fair, takes some getting used to and some thinking and many of us have modified it for example:

I separated the melee round into 15 segments (as a round is 15 seconds) then based on your number of attacks you cross reference with a chart to find out what segments you can attack in. It never changes the only reason to roll init is to determine who goes first in the first segment as every has a 1st segment action and to see if two people have the same number of attacks who gets to act first.

BTW if you want to add a little Siembieda into your character creation his premade characters had a survivor random rolled job as their job before the ZA and then one of the OCCs, except for survivor of course. So he used the Survivor OCC as a background.

[The Artist Formerly]

Hi folks.

I'm not sure how active these forums are these days, but it looks like there's still a little life around here so I figured that it'd be a great place to ask some questions and get some general guidance regarding a campaign I'd like to put together.

First off, I'm not an "old hat" at being GM / DM. I've played a few D&D campaigns and given ideas to the GM/DM's of those games, but on the whole never ran anything myself, so if you have any general tips on how to GM specifically Dead Reign, that'd be great.

Second, I did a trial run this weekend with my cousin, his wife, and my fiance. All in all, it was a pretty good time but there are a few things I found infuriating with Dead Reign.

1) Character Creation. Picking your OCC was... to put it nicely... a cluster*#$&. It was a nightmare of "where do we find this information??". All things totaled, it took my three players several hours to create their characters. Even the fastest was nearly 2 hours, and the slowest was just shy of 5 hours. 5 hours of character creation. This should just not happen. Ever. There are way too many vague points and skills that then affect a ton of other skills (outdoorsman, for example).

Is there a faster, better, way to do this? Is there a character creator online? Or, does it just get easier as you get more familiar with the game?

2) Combat Mechanics. Oh god, the combat mechanics. They're awful so far. They make little to no sense. Why would we re-roll initiative at the start of each turn? Why do we round-robin through the number of attacks? It's so much to keep track of, particularly the larger the group gets and the more NPC's are involved in a fight. Compared to the streamlined and simple actions of D&D, this feels like an incredibly over-complicated system. Additionally... it only really mentions "melee attacks", and from what I read it seems like ranged attacks all are based off of how many melee actions you have...

So, again, is there a better way to do this? How the hell have you guys been keeping track of turns so far? Have any of you successfully transitioned a D&D group into paying a Palladium campaign? How'd you get around this combat problem?

On the whole, I love the idea of a Dead Reign campaign; there's a ton of great ideas in the source books I have, and the loot tables and roll tables are insanely awesome... I'm just not sure on the mechanics. Even if I ignore the issues with the stupid amount of time it takes to set up a character, the fighting just feels sloppy and broken... and I really want to get around that, since this has so much potential for a fantastically fun campaign.

Welcome to the boards.

1) Nope, you're just going to have to suffer through it. All of Palladium's products suffer from poor editing and poor lay out. There is an overwhelming tendency to use cut and paste from older games rule sets even when some of the mechanics have changed, been edited out or evolved to mean something new. Rules can and often are splashed through out the book(s) with no internal reference for what's found where, thus we have quick find tables rather then indexes.

2) Combat certainly is rough. Combat timing is broken into 15 second intervals called melees, and occasionally melee rounds. Each character has a number of attacks per melee, also some times refered to as melee rounds, that represents the number of combat actions they can take in those fifteen seconds, often that's just rolled up into number of actions of any sort they can take during that fifteen seconds.

One of the easiest ways to get a feel for combat is run a simulated combat. Or what I like to call "Who are these maniacs and why are they beating on my tank" sessions. Effectively it lets you play test combat rules so you grasp how they work without fumbling during game play. Great for understanding various combat situations and how different combat rules interact with each other. For example side A is survivors trying to stage a fighting retreat from a horde, their goal is to escape. Side B is a horde of Zombies who want to murder side A, their goal is BRAAAINSSS! The other major benefit is that it gives you a handle on how much damage PCs can absorb and where the game can get bumpy.

My group plays a lot of D&D, and though some of us date back to D&D red box and 1st edition when we were kids, we're most familiar with 3.x edition forward. For the two newest players in my group who are both 3.xers, for example and to tie to one of the above questions if somewhat tangentially, I've found that it's best to mirror D&D's approach in having a tactile move (the six squares/30 ft concept, but you'll need to adjust for the SPD attribute and Attacks per melee) and a single action. There are a bunch of really complex ways you can approach this, but I've found that a move of 10ft per 10 points of spd is a good rule of thumb, plus they are firing wild and burn up their auto defensive action, having to burn their auto-parry, autododge or auto flip/throw defensive actions (if any). This approach helps keep pacing up and things flowing during combat.

For more specific questions, you might look at the FAQ board.

[Zer0 Kay]

Hi folks.

I'm not sure how active these forums are these days, but it looks like there's still a little life around here so I figured that it'd be a great place to ask some questions and get some general guidance regarding a campaign I'd like to put together.

First off, I'm not an "old hat" at being GM / DM. I've played a few D&D campaigns and given ideas to the GM/DM's of those games, but on the whole never ran anything myself, so if you have any general tips on how to GM specifically Dead Reign, that'd be great.

Second, I did a trial run this weekend with my cousin, his wife, and my fiance. All in all, it was a pretty good time but there are a few things I found infuriating with Dead Reign.

1) Character Creation. Picking your OCC was... to put it nicely... a cluster*#$&. It was a nightmare of "where do we find this information??". All things totaled, it took my three players several hours to create their characters. Even the fastest was nearly 2 hours, and the slowest was just shy of 5 hours. 5 hours of character creation. This should just not happen. Ever. There are way too many vague points and skills that then affect a ton of other skills (outdoorsman, for example).

Is there a faster, better, way to do this? Is there a character creator online? Or, does it just get easier as you get more familiar with the game?

2) Combat Mechanics. Oh god, the combat mechanics. They're awful so far. They make little to no sense. Why would we re-roll initiative at the start of each turn? Why do we round-robin through the number of attacks? It's so much to keep track of, particularly the larger the group gets and the more NPC's are involved in a fight. Compared to the streamlined and simple actions of D&D, this feels like an incredibly over-complicated system. Additionally... it only really mentions "melee attacks", and from what I read it seems like ranged attacks all are based off of how many melee actions you have...

So, again, is there a better way to do this? How the hell have you guys been keeping track of turns so far? Have any of you successfully transitioned a D&D group into paying a Palladium campaign? How'd you get around this combat problem?

On the whole, I love the idea of a Dead Reign campaign; there's a ton of great ideas in the source books I have, and the loot tables and roll tables are insanely awesome... I'm just not sure on the mechanics. Even if I ignore the issues with the stupid amount of time it takes to set up a character, the fighting just feels sloppy and broken... and I really want to get around that, since this has so much potential for a fantastically fun campaign.

Welcome to the boards.

1) Nope, you're just going to have to suffer through it. All of Palladium's products suffer from poor editing and poor lay out. There is an overwhelming tendency to use cut and paste from older games rule sets even when some of the mechanics have changed, been edited out or evolved to mean something new. Rules can and often are splashed through out the book(s) with no internal reference for what's found where, thus we have quick find tables rather then indexes.

2) Combat certainly is rough. Combat timing is broken into 15 second intervals called melees, and occasionally melee rounds. Each character has a number of attacks per melee, also some times refered to as melee rounds, that represents the number of combat actions they can take in those fifteen seconds, often that's just rolled up into number of actions of any sort they can take during that fifteen seconds.

One of the easiest ways to get a feel for combat is run a simulated combat. Or what I like to call "Who are these maniacs and why are they beating on my tank" sessions. Effectively it lets you play test combat rules so you grasp how they work without fumbling during game play. Great for understanding various combat situations and how different combat rules interact with each other. For example side A is survivors trying to stage a fighting retreat from a horde, their goal is to escape. Side B is a horde of Zombies who want to murder side A, their goal is BRAAAINSSS! The other major benefit is that it gives you a handle on how much damage PCs can absorb and where the game can get bumpy.

My group plays a lot of D&D, and though some of us date back to D&D red box and 1st edition when we were kids, we're most familiar with 3.x edition forward. For the two newest players in my group who are both 3.xers, for example and to tie to one of the above questions if somewhat tangentially, I've found that it's best to mirror D&D's approach in having a tactile move (the six squares/30 ft concept, but you'll need to adjust for the SPD attribute and Attacks per melee) and a single action. There are a bunch of really complex ways you can approach this, but I've found that a move of 10ft per 10 points of spd is a good rule of thumb, plus they are firing wild and burn up their auto defensive action, having to burn their auto-parry, autododge or auto flip/throw defensive actions (if any). This approach helps keep pacing up and things flowing during combat.

For more specific questions, you might look at the FAQ board.

1. Hey come on sometimes even the cut and pastes are horrible too. RT 1E Had 5lbs listed for the damage of an axe.

[SanguineHaze]

Thank you both for your replies! I've done a bit more tinkering over the week, and I think... guys... I think I've caught a terrible affliction.

I'm going to be giving my players a choice of where they start. I've created 5 starting scenarios with various immediate difficulty levels and goals. All of the startings are going to be set shortly after the zombie rise (roughly within the 5 month suggested starting timeframe), but has been moved out of the United States to reflect the area of Canada I live in. From there, I've set up 5 sort of... modules.

The first starting option is a simple farm. There's no immediate danger, and the farm contains a ton of items and equipment that any recent zombie-apocalypse survivor will want. This is by far the most tempting starting, and I have created several options to dive the players into exploring their surroundings. Optionally, the players may just decide to fortify their location on the farm, which is fine too.

Second option I've made is starting from within a small Hamlet. The population is terrified, but around half of the hamlet survived and most of the risen dead have been dealt with. The hamlet's original population was 64 people, and with a bit of quick thinking and good reactions, the town loses only about half of the population. Players get to choose if they're just coming into town, or if they're longtime residents. (If they choose residents, I've marked out a basic map and they'll pick which house is "theirs".) Again, as with the farm, I've already figured out a few concepts about how to shake things up a bit.

Third option is another up-scale from a hamlet to a full-on town (population of about 9000 people). The players in this starting are bunkered down in the local hotel / bar, which had been fully barricaded when the dead started trying to eat people's faces off. The players are immediately faced with a bit of a tense moment in this option, since 1-3 zeds will sense the players within a few minutes of starting to play.

Forth option is by far the most dangerous, but potentially also the most rewarding. Players start in a city. The building that they're in had previously been quarantined by the local military, so the initial goal will be surviving and getting out of the building itself. This will present the players with options to find a decent bit of military and police gear... should they be brave and resourceful enough to drop the walking dead that currently carry the items.

Whoops! Forgot the fifth option: the players start as part of a mobile caravan; a caravan that's quickly running out of fuel and supplies, with only 2 places they could get to before fuel is gone. Either option will provide the players enough fuel to continue limping onwards, but depending on which they pick they'll be greeted with either hostility and guns, or open arms. These days... it's hard to tell which to be more suspicious of.

Now, myself, I think the players will pick the farm. It's the most logical choice for a new group, since it promises the illusion of safety. Either way though, I've set up the various startings to be fairly modular... so if they pick the farm, I will likely eventually use the hamlet / town / city scenarios as the game progresses (just with minor tweeks).

I'm also in the process of making a ton of random roll tables for resources that you might find in things like barns, quonsets, the average farmhouse, the average suburban home, etc, etc. This way I won't have to pre-plan any resources and the players can make defenses out of whatever may be available (lumber, chicken wire, barbed wire, rebar for example).

[The Artist Formerly]

Thank you both for your replies! I've done a bit more tinkering over the week, and I think... guys... I think I've caught a terrible affliction.

I'm going to be giving my players a choice of where they start. I've created 5 starting scenarios with various immediate difficulty levels and goals. All of the startings are going to be set shortly after the zombie rise (roughly within the 5 month suggested starting timeframe), but has been moved out of the United States to reflect the area of Canada I live in. From there, I've set up 5 sort of... modules.

The first starting option is a simple farm. There's no immediate danger, and the farm contains a ton of items and equipment that any recent zombie-apocalypse survivor will want. This is by far the most tempting starting, and I have created several options to dive the players into exploring their surroundings. Optionally, the players may just decide to fortify their location on the farm, which is fine too.

Second option I've made is starting from within a small Hamlet. The population is terrified, but around half of the hamlet survived and most of the risen dead have been dealt with. The hamlet's original population was 64 people, and with a bit of quick thinking and good reactions, the town loses only about half of the population. Players get to choose if they're just coming into town, or if they're longtime residents. (If they choose residents, I've marked out a basic map and they'll pick which house is "theirs".) Again, as with the farm, I've already figured out a few concepts about how to shake things up a bit.

Third option is another up-scale from a hamlet to a full-on town (population of about 9000 people). The players in this starting are bunkered down in the local hotel / bar, which had been fully barricaded when the dead started trying to eat people's faces off. The players are immediately faced with a bit of a tense moment in this option, since 1-3 zeds will sense the players within a few minutes of starting to play.

Forth option is by far the most dangerous, but potentially also the most rewarding. Players start in a city. The building that they're in had previously been quarantined by the local military, so the initial goal will be surviving and getting out of the building itself. This will present the players with options to find a decent bit of military and police gear... should they be brave and resourceful enough to drop the walking dead that currently carry the items.

Whoops! Forgot the fifth option: the players start as part of a mobile caravan; a caravan that's quickly running out of fuel and supplies, with only 2 places they could get to before fuel is gone. Either option will provide the players enough fuel to continue limping onwards, but depending on which they pick they'll be greeted with either hostility and guns, or open arms. These days... it's hard to tell which to be more suspicious of.

Now, myself, I think the players will pick the farm. It's the most logical choice for a new group, since it promises the illusion of safety. Either way though, I've set up the various startings to be fairly modular... so if they pick the farm, I will likely eventually use the hamlet / town / city scenarios as the game progresses (just with minor tweeks).

I'm also in the process of making a ton of random roll tables for resources that you might find in things like barns, quonsets, the average farmhouse, the average suburban home, etc, etc. This way I won't have to pre-plan any resources and the players can make defenses out of whatever may be available (lumber, chicken wire, barbed wire, rebar for example).

Cool beans. Sounds like you've got a great starting story arc. I do want to touch on the bolded part. Random tables can cost some significant prep time with little pay out for the Storyteller. Instead of spending too much time on such tables, I would suggest making a crib sheet for yourself to keep handy so you can inject needed items and equipment as you go. That way when your PCs skip over something because their players are only half listening to you while they determine who's going to eat the last slice of pizza and someone is in the bathroom, you aren't out a ton of time. I would compare this to Left for dead's story editor who tosses undead or loot at players as they need it. One of the things I find most frustrating with Palladium systems is the tendency for games to bog down in banalities and obscure and trivial math rulings. Anything you can do to streamline, either play time or your own prep-time will help you out, long term.

[Zer0 Kay]

To bad it isn't Rifts, I've got the compiled list in an automated spreadsheet for the randomer item table. It has too many high tech/magic references though. But it did give me an idea... New post.

[SanguineHaze]

I'm also in the process of making a ton of random roll tables for resources that you might find in things like barns, quonsets, the average farmhouse, the average suburban home, etc, etc. This way I won't have to pre-plan any resources and the players can make defenses out of whatever may be available (lumber, chicken wire, barbed wire, rebar for example).

Cool beans. Sounds like you've got a great starting story arc. I do want to touch on the bolded part. Random tables can cost some significant prep time with little pay out for the Storyteller. Instead of spending too much time on such tables, I would suggest making a crib sheet for yourself to keep handy so you can inject needed items and equipment as you go. That way when your PCs skip over something because their players are only half listening to you while they determine who's going to eat the last slice of pizza and someone is in the bathroom, you aren't out a ton of time. I would compare this to Left for dead's story editor who tosses undead or loot at players as they need it. One of the things I find most frustrating with Palladium systems is the tendency for games to bog down in banalities and obscure and trivial math rulings. Anything you can do to streamline, either play time or your own prep-time will help you out, long term.

Oh! Great point. I hadn't considered that, but that's very true. The players may miss (or forget) things, so I'll look into doing that! Thanks!

To bad it isn't Rifts, I've got the compiled list in an automated spreadsheet for the randomer item table. It has too many high tech/magic references though. But it did give me an idea... New post.

Haha! Sweet. I'm curious to see what you come up with and will be checking it out shortly.

[SittingBull]

I did quick roll stats and only survivor stats (random) for all the players. I just handed them a character. Funny thing is they all like their characters.

For combat, just ignore all the zombie specific restrictions. If you also ignore their life sight then you have a very walking dead type flow of game, which works well if you are trying to keep the zombies as the backdrop.

[Vrykolas2k]

Get used to the joys of a game system that's a bit more complicated than D&D 3.x and so on. Sometimes simplicity isn't the answer...
Anyway, I never do pre-made characters when I run, except for NPCs. People usually like to make their own characters, and you're not going to make a character the way I would.
The only things I change in D-R is the zombie head hit points (they're a bit much) and the too-omniscient PPE see it through almost anything ability... I allow for cover and concealment, so yes you can hide from zombies in a spider-trap.

[Vincent Takeda]

We started our latest dead reign party in a city camp that had fortified Mile High Stadium in Denver. Big ole parkinglot and good visibility of the surrounding neighborhood from the upper deck. Security fencing was already in place. Building to the immediate southeast turned out to be the radio transmission building for broadcasting the games which the party attempted to secure in order to seek out other survivors. One party member had a fetish for flamethrowers though so it did not turn out well.

When the party went to the local gun range in an attempt to secure more gunz and ammo they found a repeater zombie at the shooting range clicking off an empty pistol... so they gave him a few rounds so he could shoot some zombies downrange. Fun stuff.