Overview

This is a post apocaliptic game system that puts your more into a roleplaying aspect rather then relying solely on dice rolls. There are still a few dice rolls as the game runs on a d10 dice system. Most of the game can run in any world setting such as ancient, medieval, modern or futuristic. The games direction and level of difficulty is solely up to the GameMaster, but some helpful items will be included.

Character Creation

Here is where you will make your unique character, where the only way to have identical characters is if you choose to make identical characters.

Attributes:

These are the core of who you are as a person. You start with 1 point in each Attribute and have 15 points to spend on increasing your attributes. Your Attributes are maxed out at 6 during character creation and can reach a maximum of 9.

Strength

Determines how strong you are and how much you can push drag lift and melee attacks.

Dexterity

Determines how agile and fast you can run and avoid attacks.

Constitution

Determines how tough you are and your bonus to your Hit Points

Intelligence

Determines how smart you are and your critical thinking

Perception

Determines all 5 of your senses and ranged attacks.

Willpower

Determines the control of your emotions and determination

Luck

Determines how lucky you are in life.

Defining Your Character

Here is where you will choose the specifics of your character and figure out the bonuses and negatives if any to your character.

Hit Points

Determines your health which is 25+ Constitution

Occupation

Choose any one occupation that you were doing before the outbreak happens. You are trained in this which gives you knowledge of your occupation. These are things that take a great deal of training such as a Doctor, Engineer or Carpenter for example. This allows you to perform certain tasks that fall under that occupation as well as giving you +3 to all checks made about it.

Hobby

Choose 3 hobbies that you did on a semi-regular basis. It gives you minor training in these fields and some knowledge. This is considered something simple to do but still requires some modest amount of training to do such as fishing, hunting, gardening as an example. This gives you a +1 on all checks involving it.

Genetic Trait

Choose a genetic trait that you have. It can be anything such as dyslexia, insomnia, needs glasses etc. The GM will determine how it affect your character in game. Try to give a bonus in one area and a negative in another such as, Needs Glasses could give a -1 to perception when not wearing glasses but a +1 to perception when wearing them. Insomnia could mean you need less sleep, but take twice as long to remove fatigue points.

Fate

Sometimes fate can be a cruel mistress or a fortunate happenstance. This is a tool that the players and especially the GM can use to create intense moments and increase the tension in a scene. At the start of character creation, each player gains 1 Fate that they can use at anytime for themselves. This can be used in different ways as listed below. GM's can use Fate at any point in time that could increase tension or create a problem for the players. Examples lesited below.

Player Fate

• You can reroll a die
• You can add a +5 or -5 to any check you make (must be done before you roll).
• Create a positive event for your character, ie. zombie trips, stuck door opens, an ally finds you, turn a hit into a miss against you, etc.

GM Fate

When a scene is right and tension is high, the GM can use this opportunity to create a bit of misfortune for one or more of the players. The GM can ask the player or players in a scene if they want to earn 1 Fate. The player(s) must decide on whether or not they want to earn one, but only those involved in it can gain one. All players involved must agree for this to happen and if they do agree on gaining a Fate, all players involved gain 1 Fate, but cannot use any Fate for 30 minutes. Below is a few examples of things a GM can do as unfortunate Fate. There are many possibilities, so use your best judgement, but only do this when it is not an easy solution for the players.

• When hiding from a zombie or other things, cause a phone on their person to ring aloud or have an object fall to the ground near them creating a loud sound.
• When fleeing, the only door is barricaded from the other side, stuck or locked. The car they try to use doesn't start.
• A player opens a closet door and a Zombie surprises them and tackles them to the ground. 
• Their gun jams, weapon breaks, or they drop it down a hard to reach place like a sewer. 

Surviving The Apocalypse

In this area you will learn how to keep yourself alive in many different manners. This is the key aspect of the game as this game is a Survival Game. 

Fatigue Points

Fatigue plays a major role in the ability to keep yourself active. Each fatigue point accounts for a -1 penalty to all checks. You can have a number of fatigue points equal to 3 + your Constitution before passing out. You get rid of non-food/water Fatigue Points after taking a Rest. To remove a fatigue point, you must have completed a Full Rest within the last 24 hours. A full rest is 7-8 hours. You can remove 1 Fatigue Point for every hour of rest up to half your Constitution (rounded down).

Gaining Fatigue can be dependent on different factors such as but not limited to: Weather, Travel, Sleep, Work. If you are in an environment that is too hot or cold for an extended period of time this could cause you to gain points. Traveling long distances, especially in difficult terrain puts strain on the body. Lack of sleep or pushing yourself too hard in work are good examples of causing fatigue points. As a general rule, 1-2 hours of anything that might cause strain on your body or mind, will cause you to gain a fatigue point.

Food and Water

Food and water are crucial to survival and the longer you go without it the less likely you will survive. Food and Water comes in tiny, small, medium, large and extra large size quantities. 4 tiny is equal to 1 small, 2 small is equal to 1 medium. 2 medium is equal to 1 large. 4 large is equal to 1 extra large.

Every 8 hours you go without a medium amount of food you gain one fatigue point. This fatigue point can only be reduced once every 8 hours by a food of medium size.

Every 6 hours you go without a medium amount of water you gain one fatigue point. This fatigue point can only be reduced once every 3 hours by a water of medium size.

Food and Water durations are subject to change depending on different factors such as but not limited to: Weather, Travel, Type, Work.

If you gain a fatigue point from food or water that equal 1 more then your maximum then your character dies from starvation or dehydration.

A medium amount of food is around a normal cheeseburger and fries, 
A medium amount of water is around a Gallon of water.

Combat

Combat and attacks are determined by a D10 dice and your Strength, Dexterity, Perception and Luck. Melee attacks are made with Strength and Ranged attacks are made with Perception. You add the Attribute score to attack rolls you make with them. Your Dexterity + Luck is your Dodge Score. A creature must roll equal to or higher then your Dodge Score to hit you. Other factors can come into play such as environment and distance. A Creature who is unaware of being attacked uses only their Luck as their dodge instead of both. Choosing to hit a specific location of a body part gets a -3 on the Attack. Attacks in the head to any creature deals double damage. Damage is dependent upon the weapon being used. All melee attacks gain bonus to their damage equal to their Strength Score. Ranged Attacks DO NOT gain any bonus from your Perception.

Any damage that is 2x higher then your Constitution score gives you 1 fatigue and a chance for a lasting effect or wound dependent on GM. A lasting effect can be a broken bone, bruised ribs or damage to the muscles. This would give a -2 to any checks involving that area. A wound could be a cut, gash, or any thing that would cause bleeding. When a character suffers from a wound they lose 2 hit points every 10 minutes until it is fixed or they are reduced to 0. If they are reduced to 0 they gain 1 fatigue point every hour until they reach 1 plus their maximum, then they die. This is stopped if the wound is treated.

Each round is around 1-5 seconds and allows you to move a number of feet equal to five times your Dexterity. You also have enough time to perform one action, such as, making an attack, opening something, or taking something out of a bag etc. Turn order is determined by surprise, fear and Dexterity. If surprising an enemy you get to go first. If in fear of an enemy, the enemy goes first. Other then that Turn Order goes by highest Dexterity to lowest Dexterity. If there are any ties they are determined by a d10 dice roll.

If you are attempting to throw something accurately, then you can throw up to 10 times your Strength and Perception combined in feet.

Damage Location

Damage location is determined by the 1st digit in your to hit roll (furthest right). Use the chart below to determine where you strike a creature. Keep in mind that this is not used if you choose to attack a specific location. For example if you roll 13 damage, you would hit the Left Arm, if you roll 10 damage you would hit the Left Leg.

1: Head
2: Right Arm
3: Left Arm
4-8: Body
9: Right Leg
0: Left Leg

Recovering Hit Points

When you take a Full Rest, at the end of that rest after you reduce any Fatigue points, you regain a number of Hit Points equal to your Constitution - Fatigue points.

Illness

If it wasn't bad enough, there are still normal sickness and diseases that exist out in the world. When you acquire one of these, you gain a -3 to all checks. This can be fixed over time or through medication. If the illness can be naturally cured, such as a cold or fever, you can attempt to have your body heal itself. At the end of every 24 hours, roll a d10 against your Constitution. If you roll under, then your body will recover from the illness after the next Full Rest. If you fail, you get a -1 to Constitution until this is resolved. This effect continues to stack until you reach 0 Constitution. Once that happens, your character gains 1 fatigue every 24 hours until they reach 1 more then their Maximum (before all the reductions), at which point they die.

Skill Checks

Skill checks are done with a D10 and is based on your attributes whether or not you succeed. When you are asked to make a skill check, you roll a D10 and base it against the attribute that suits it. If you roll equal to or below your Attribute, then you succeed on the check. Opposed checks are the opposite and when you roll a opposed check you roll a D10 + Attribute that closely resembles the check. The GM can add bonuses or penalties to skill checks based on what is happening in the game to make it easier or harder. 

Skill checks that are quick normally take only an action to perform. Other skill checks can take longer dependent on what they are. Checks that require a minute or longer can be reduced based on the roll. At the beginning of the check, have the player roll and reduce the time an equal percentage amount to their roll. For example if the task takes a minute and they roll a 15, the time would be reduced by 9 seconds. If it was an hour it would reduce it 9 minutes. This may not seem like a lot, but in a tense situation every second counts.

Untrained checks that need training cannot be performed, such as performing chemistry with no knowledge of chemistry.

Lucky Chance

Whenever you roll a D10 and it lands on the same number as your Luck Score (before modifiers) and is not a 1, you can reroll the D10. This can only happen once per check and you must take the new roll. For example, if your luck was a 3 and you roll a d10 and it comes up as a 3. You can choose to keep the roll or reroll the d10 again taking the new roll, even if its lower.

Carry Capacity

You can carry an amount of pounds equal to 50 times your Strength. If you are carrying an amount equal to half your Carry Capacity your Dexterity Score is halved, rounded down. If you are over your Carry Capacity your Dexterity score becomes 0.

Insanity & Fear

Fear plays a big roll while traversing through the apocalypses. Fear can come at any time and from any thing. When an instance of fear could affect a player(s), they must roll a Willpower check (roll below their Willpower). On a failure, they gain fear from whatever that caused it for an amount of time depending on what caused it (examples below). The number is determined by how much they failed by. Example, if they rolled a 7 and their Willpower is 4, then they failed by 4 because they needed to roll a 3 to succeed. If you wish to move clower to something you are afraid of, you must succeed on a Willpower check at a -2. If you succeed, you can only move at half speed rounded down. If making attacks at a creature, zombie or human that you have Fear of, you get -2 on your attack rolls and deal only half damage.
Fear of a room, place or object: Hours
Fear of Zombies, Creatures or Armed People: Days

When you fail on any Willpower check, if you roll a natural 10, you gain 1 point of Insanity. Depending on how bad the event is, determines how long it takes to get over. Insanity can last anywhere from 1-30 days. You can have a number of Insanity Points up to your Willpower. Once you reach your maximum amount, the next insanity point you get sets you off and you become hostile to everyone around you including yourself.

Character Growth

Your characters have the ability to grow just like any other person. After sufficient practice, use, and studying, your character can gain minor training in hobbies. Though as in real life these things take time and hard work. Its up to the GM to discern if a character has met sufficient requirements to be able to call themselves semi-trained. Doing so will add this to your hobby list. As a general rule, this should take anywhere from 6-12 months of work.
You can also increase your Attribute scores by working in in the specified area. Such as Weight Training for Strength, Agility Training for Dexterity etc. As a base, it takes 3 months of work times the next level increase. Ex. To move from a 1 to a  2, it would be 3 months x 2 = 6 months. You must have sufficient materials and supplies to accomplish this requiring a minimum of 4 hours of work, five days a week. 

Real World Items

The objects in the game such as food, water, weapons and vehicles are work and function the same way as they do in the real world. This gives the GM the ultimate control on what the players can reasonably have access to and how they work. Ex. Some weapons are stronger then others, some cars can travel farther then others and some food is more filling then others. 

Clothing

This is fairly simple as most wear some form of clothing. Some clothing can grant you protection from the elements such as rain boots, snow jacket and sunglasses. These can grant +1 bonuses to checks made against environmental effects.

Food & Water

These come in the various sizes as described above. Things like a cupcake would be considered tiny food, bowel of cereal a small food, a large watermelon would be a medium size food, a Large pizza would be considered large food and a Thanksgiving dinner would be an extra large food. As for water a cup of water is considered tiny, a bottle of water is considered small, a gallon of water is considered medium.

Vehicles

These can be anything that helps you travel such as automotive, boats, bikes, planes, etc. All of these things require some sort of power to propel them such as wind, gas, electricity, self power, etc. Keep in mind that these will need servicing by a trained hand if it is a complex vehicle or minor training if its things like a bicycle. 

Weapons 

Weapons work the same way in this game as they do in the real world. Depending on the weapon itself it can deal varying damage so use the examples to help determine the damage. Melee weapons gain a bonus from your Strength, while Ranged weapons gain a static bonus. The minimum for each damage roll is 1d4 and the max dice roll is a d10. You can increase the number of dice for stronger weapons like a rocket launcher can be 5d10+50 and a Molotov cocktail can be 3d6+4. 
Melee
Crowbar: 1d4, Metal Pipe: 1d6, Sword: 1d8, Chainsaw: 2d6
Ranged
Bow/Arrow: 1d4+2, Pistol: 1d6+4, Shotgun: 1d8+8, Rifle: 1d10+10. 

Zombies

These are made in similar fashion as a player character. There are many kinds of zombies in the media so this helps with deciding how you want your zombies to run in your game. Do you want them to be runners like in Zombieland? Give a high dexterity. Be able to learn like in Dawn of the dead? Higher intelligence. These are completely up to you. 

The Infection

Throughout the years we have seen zombie infection happen in many different ways, through a bite, a scratch, airborne or just being dead. Its up to the GM how he wants to run the game but know that once a player is infected they have a number minutes, hours or days depending on how deadly the infection you choose to be is. Whichever you choose it corresponds to the formula of 3 + constitution. Once that time runs out, whichever you choose, minutes, hours or days and they dont receive some sort of antidote (if there is any), that player dies and turns into a zombie.

Special Infection

There is also a chance that your players are living in the worst scenario and that is in a world like Left 4 Dead. Where there are special types of infected. If you decide to use things like this then you must make sure that the players have suitable ways to deal with these special infected.

When making these types of creatures, give them a large boost to one of the attributes that have to do with the special infection they have. If they are like the Tank, multiply its strength and constitution by 5. If using one like a hunter, multiply its number of feet in can travel by 10 and give it the ability to make a pounce attack from that distance. Just keep in mind that creating these types of zombies will drastically increase the difficulty, danger and likelihood of a player character death.