Dead Reign™ versus Heroes Unlimited™

[Glistam]

I'm considering designing a convention one-shot adventure of super heroes versus zombies, using Heroes Unlimited™ and Dead Reign™. Before I delve too far into this, I wanted to collect some input/advice from others. Right now I'm towing with the following ideas:

1. This will be set at the onset of the zombie outbreak, not months after.
2. The heroes are powerful and have little to fear from individual zombies.
3. The goal is to protect civilians and lead them somewhere "safe."
3. Since it's a world of super heroes and villains, there will be super-powered zombies.

Questions as I ponder this:

How powerful should the heroes be? I'm thinking heroes who have little to fear from zombies (Robot, Invulnerability, APS, Regeneration, Auto-dodging, etc), so the tension is really about how they protect the civilians. I would anticipate different threats to the heroes such as too many zombies overwhelming a hero and slowing them down, or like how the robot hero is basically invisible to zombies so he can't draw them away, etc.

Any particular powers or hero categories which may be especially fun?

From the standpoint of a zombie outbreak, where would be an appropriate safe place to lead civilians? Some sort of evacuation site? The docks for ships? A military base or stronghold? All of the above as viable options?

Would zombified supers be too over the top, or just the right about of over the top?

Has anyone done any scenarios like this, and if so, any advice?

[Axelmania]

Don't most powered heroes have higher PPE making them natural targets? I don't think the core books dealt with it but Rifts Conversion Book said 1D6x10 for Experiments, 6D6 for Mutants, 4D6 for Psychics, Ancient Masters or Stage Magicians; 3D6 for Physical Training, Secret Operative or Vigilante. The only ones low at 2D6 are Sleuths, Hardware, users of magic objects/weapons (the items have high PPE that could distract if you threw it elsewhere) and I figure Robot Pilots (they weren't mentioned). Obviously mystic bestowed/study is at top.

[Razzinold]

Questions as I ponder this:

How powerful should the heroes be? I'm thinking heroes who have little to fear from zombies (Robot, Invulnerability, APS, Regeneration, Auto-dodging, etc), so the tension is really about how they protect the civilians. I would anticipate different threats to the heroes such as too many zombies overwhelming a hero and slowing them down, or like how the robot hero is basically invisible to zombies so he can't draw them away, etc.

I would suggest making your PCs stronger defensively, then they are offensively. If you have a team full of heroes with superhuman strength, flight and laser beam eyes then they could just mow down a path in all directions while the people safely walk. On the same note if they can all cast massive shields then they could create a safe moving bubble for people to travel.
I like your idea of the robot hero not being able to draw them away and he would have to worry about getting ripped apart by zombies.
How many people are they escorting 10 - 12 or a few hundred like the t.v. show falling skies ?

Any particular powers or hero categories which may be especially fun?

Mutants and mystically bestowed would be good, same with the super soldier one. Hardware specialist could be a little nerve racking to play. He may be unstoppable in the suit but what happens if he's caught outside of it, or even worse something breaks down ?
Could you imagine that so many zombies dogpile you that you collapse and lay there buried under all of them while you slowly run out of air/starve to death ?

From the standpoint of a zombie outbreak, where would be an appropriate safe place to lead civilians? Some sort of evacuation site? The docks for ships? A military base or stronghold? All of the above as viable options?

This would all depend on your level of contamination, is it world wide or limited to their city ? If it's world wide then your best bet would be to build your own strong hold, something like a military base would be massively overrun with Zeds. If it's limited to your city and you have a way to test people if they are infected then, the escort them to the docks and move them by ship. If someone turns on the ship you at least have a fighting chance to survive and toss them overboard, or abandon ship yourself. If you are on a plane and someone turns then it's "Game over man, game over!".

Would zombified supers be too over the top, or just the right about of over the top?

Neat concept, if you went with it I personally would limit it to a couple of them having APS that they can't control, the power would always be activated, because who wouldn't want to see an APS Fire or APS Mercury Zed shambling around ? lol
Give a few of them Extraordinary PS (possibly combine with PE), PP and Speed. That would cover your variants from the various movies and video games. The PS/PE would give you your 'juggernaut', PP would be your agile 'feral' and Speed would give you the running style from 28 Days Later.

Has anyone done any scenarios like this, and if so, any advice?

Not with zombies, but it reminds me of a Chaos Earth game my friend ran years ago. My advice, even though I wasn't GM, is make sure you come up with a reason to make your players invested in saving the humans. Now when I say players I mean the actual people not the PCs. If you can't convince your friends that those lives matter then it will effect the way they play. Sure their PCs will do all the heroic things to save them but they will try that much harder if they are invested in it.
The other is make sure you really drive home the loss of any human life. Make them feel how they must have felt being so helpless while you are so strong but didn't/wouldn't/couldn't help them.

[CarCrasher]

My heroes unlimited/ dead reign mashup went like this. No major powers but allowed 2 minor powers. No magic based or psychic based powers. No aliens. No energy weapons or space access. Robotics, mutants, and experiments were the only enhanes allowed. As i ran it in the "real world" equivalent i thought it some what appropriate. I also slightly increased zombie hp and gave a few zombies a major power some 2 minor powers. If you think it's a great addition make a mega zombie (a zombie using mega hero template)! My idea for the one-shot. Allow an hour for heroics. Give the characters lots of civilian praise and gratitude. Lots of in game rewards. If time is a factor run some interactive fight scenes (no dice rolls) to make things go quickly. Say something about a news report that talks about the great heroes. Mayor offers key to the city or whatever. Did i mention lots of praise in game. Hope this helps and came before the one-shot was to be played!

[Axelmania]

Arguing about the best major power to fight zombies would seem potentially overwhelming, but perhaps deciding on the best minor power could be easier?

Instinctively I want to say Extraordinary Speed or Wingless Flight... mostly for running away, but I feel like I'm overlooking something.

If you allow 2 minors then one for attack and one for mobility might be good.

[Unfortunate Son]

The biggest problem I have had with this is making Super Zombies. Super powered characters can more then handle a horde, and to a very great degree.

Adding powers to Zombies, that's where it gets dicey. Personally, I view them as boss zombies, and go all out with them, because as we all know HU characters can use the challenge. I was about to run this but my group read Marvel Zombies, knows my general lack of moderation and said bollocks to the Magneto Zombie.

But on paper, let your ideas loose. You would be surprised what a Zombie with Healing factor does to a players confidence.

[Incriptus]

I am imaging a Hero with the power of Zombie Flesh (Powers Unlimited 3) ...

How would he be treated?
Was it (indirectly) his fault?
How long was he active before the spread?
Was he well regarded in the past, or always a bit of an outsider?
Could he possibly be part of the cure?
Is it just one hell of a sucky coincidence?

[Axelmania]

Super powered characters can more then handle a horde, and to a very great degree.

For many choices sure. In many other cases they could be helpful but not an utter game changer. Chameleon/Body Weapons/Mechano-link for example would still be challenging against a horde.

The fun would be in randomly rolling up characters. Less likely you get just the right combinations.

Or maybe thy got it via a the Halcyon Protocol in Century Station with chance of big side effects when turning a power on.

Guys like Wingless Flight would be awesome until you swoop down to punch a Crawlerand it entangles you.

Or a Thinker shoots you.

Where would you sleep? Where would you get food?

[filo_clarke]

For what it is worth, I have run a game in which the players were allowed super abilities. I was persuaded by the group because they felt that the difficulty level was too high for their ability, and they needed a boost to help with survival. With reluctance I allowed them to pick: 1 minor power, and up to 2 mutation anomalies/experiment side effects. The end results were low powered mutants made using the "Ordinary Person/Survivor" O.C.C. template. Now, I am not known as a generous GM, so there was a caveat to their powers; they attracted zombies!

The use of an "active" power had the same result as a zombie moan for 1 melee. So shooting an energy blast, or flying through the sky caused zombies to react as though a moan had been let out for 1 melee. If you used the power longer than 1 melee, the effect continued, to predictable effects.

"Passive" powers simply made the character more of a target, as though their aura was more appetizing than a regular human's. So, if a group of 10 zombies approached two people; a normal human, and a mutant with Healing Factor, rather than a 50/50 split, 75% of the zombies would head towards the mutant, while only 25% would attack the human. Characters with "active" powers did not provoke the same reaction, as long as they were not using their power at the time.

As for useful powers, I found that the powers Flying Force Disk, E.E.: Fire, and Solar Powered far outstripped others. Energy Expulsion: Fire was both good for crowd control, and forcing horror factor saves from Zombies, but also as a tool to keep warm and safe. Solar Powered grants a bunch of bonuses including attribute bumps, regeneration, no need for food/water, no fatigue. Granted most of these powers were only usable outside during the day, but with good planning is is awesome. Finally, Flying Force Disk is like the Swiss-Army-Knife of abilities... you can use it as a vehicle for transportation, a weapon, a shield, a barricade... very handy.

[cornholioprime]

Would zombified supers be too over the top, or just the right about of over the top?

Dead Reign zombies are too stupid to use most powers.

And powers you choose to give them, should be limited (by you) to ones which the living character had "on" constantly and which required no conscious input from the character to maintain. Powers that complement the only thing that the zombies actually know how to do -punch and hit (there shouldn't be any zombies using Intangibility or Winged Flight or APS: Flesh to Metal, for example). MAYBE there could be Pattern Zombie Superheroes and Villains who "remember" from their past life how to activate a given power by rote, but that shouldn't also give them the ability to employ said power efficiently.

Invulnerability, Sonic Speed, Extraordinary P.S., and so on, would complement their powers nicely all by themselves (and some of those would be downright terrifying to face).

Obviously, the Sentient Zombies (can't remember their names right now, away from books) would be an exception, perhaps even serve as the supervillain head of his or her own fleet of regular zombies.

[Hunterrose]

What about something like APS: xxx but always on. A Zombified Metal Guy would be terrifying.

[cornholioprime]

What about something like APS: xxx but always on. A Zombified Metal Guy would be terrifying.

I'm still away from my books, and don't remember, but don't most Heroes Unlimited powers have to be consciously activated?

[Axelmania]

I don't know if anyone has done a tally. There's a decent amount of passive abilities though.

A GM could always take an "always on" approach too, like instead of transforming to APS, they're just always like that, it was turned on by default and the zombie can't will it to turn off.

[Hunterrose]

A GM could always take an "always on" approach too, like instead of transforming to APS, they're just always like that, it was turned on by default and the zombie can't will it to turn off.

This is what I was thinking.

[cornholioprime]

For what it is worth, I have run a game in which the players were allowed super abilities. I was persuaded by the group because they felt that the difficulty level was too high for their ability, and they needed a boost to help with survival. With reluctance I allowed them to pick: 1 minor power, and up to 2 mutation anomalies/experiment side effects. The end results were low powered mutants made using the "Ordinary Person/Survivor" O.C.C. template. Now, I am not known as a generous GM, so there was a caveat to their powers; they attracted zombies!

The use of an "active" power had the same result as a zombie moan for 1 melee. So shooting an energy blast, or flying through the sky caused zombies to react as though a moan had been let out for 1 melee. If you used the power longer than 1 melee, the effect continued, to predictable effects.

"Passive" powers simply made the character more of a target, as though their aura was more appetizing than a regular human's. So, if a group of 10 zombies approached two people; a normal human, and a mutant with Healing Factor, rather than a 50/50 split, 75% of the zombies would head towards the mutant, while only 25% would attack the human. Characters with "active" powers did not provoke the same reaction, as long as they were not using their power at the time.

As for useful powers, I found that the powers Flying Force Disk, E.E.: Fire, and Solar Powered far outstripped others. Energy Expulsion: Fire was both good for crowd control, and forcing horror factor saves from Zombies, but also as a tool to keep warm and safe. Solar Powered grants a bunch of bonuses including attribute bumps, regeneration, no need for food/water, no fatigue. Granted most of these powers were only usable outside during the day, but with good planning is is awesome. Finally, Flying Force Disk is like the Swiss-Army-Knife of abilities... you can use it as a vehicle for transportation, a weapon, a shield, a barricade... very handy.

Diabolically clever, filo!!

[Razzinold]

SNIP.... Flying Force Disk is like the Swiss-Army-Knife of abilities... you can use it as a vehicle for transportation, a weapon, a shield, a barricade... very handy.

I agree totally, one of my favourite powers in the game. I once had a character with F.F.D. and enhanced speed, now that was an awesome combo!

He would use F.F.D. to create a wind shield for himself to cut down on wind resistance, or protect from incoming projectiles, he liked to use it as a battering ram as well.

[dragon_blaze_99]

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16479439-ex-heroes

[Tick]

Love the idea!
The heroes should have little trouble but this will be interesting for sure.
I love that DC did do something like this as well.

Imagine! The main heroes turned to zombies and it was not good for the whole world.
LOL

Look forward to seeing what you come up with too!

[Tick]

Hereos do have everything to fear! - No power, no food, no clean water.... They have similar problems as humans.... This is interesting for sure. You have to play on the survival aspects of the game. Literally the everyday problems that come with being a hero are now worse as they need to not only provide for themselves, but people will flock to them as some sort of messiah.... Cult anyone?!?!?!

So many options here.

This could be so fun. So dangerous too!