Fudge, with its fast pickup and ease of use, is an ideal system for zombie one-shot adventures similar in scope to those found in the movies. All you need is a few characters, some zombie statistics, the layout of a shopping mall, and a GM that doesn't mind frequently groaning "BRAAAAAAAAAINS...."
Of course, that's very cliché and limited in scope. Supposing your group wanted a more involved and detailed zombie RPG -- something with more campaign potential. Something that does more than put the players against hordes of mindless undead searching for their next feast of fresh, human brains. Suppose, for a moment, your group wanted to play the zombies, not the humans. Well, now we're talking.
First thing we'd have to do is make the zombies interesting, more than a lumbering column of fetid flesh that has trouble with the concept of doorknobs. They'd certainly have to have some intelligence left over, and all zombies are preternaturally strong. We'll start the zombie "template" with a Reason of Mediocre and a Strength of Good.
There would have to be a reason for zombie player characters. Something more than, "the dead have arisen and are eating the living -- those that are bitten rise up as one of the undead". We could say that after years of experimentation, a government subsidized pharmaceutical laboratory made some stunning advances with regards to life-after-death. They perfected a serum that, when injected into a corpse, would bring the body back to a semblance of life - it was able to stand, walk, and move about of its own volition. Higher reasoning was a challenge, and if the body had been dead too long, the newly arisen "zombie" was a monster living off near animal instinct alone, a hunger for living flesh guiding its every move. More testing identified the brain as the key to higher functioning - a recently dead brain was more capable than a long dead brain. Subjects who had the serum injected before death arose with their personality and memories largely intact. However, as the brain shriveled away, all the test subjects wound up reverting to cannibalistic, animal-like ways. Therefore, a new serum was devised. This serum, when injected at regular intervals, kept the brain fresh and functional complete with personality, memories, and an abated hunger for human flesh. Mix in some formaldehyde and the body is preserved as well. The government embraced these advances, seeing in these newly created undead a tireless workforce, able to labor ceaselessly with blatant disregard for any existing labor laws -- they were dead, after all. They were evicted from their homes and driven out of their neighborhoods into government labor camps -- which is where the players find their characters at the start of the game.
There would need to be a way to simulate the descent into monsterhood in Fudge terms -- an attribute like Humanity might be in order, and the zombie "template" could start with a Humanity of Mediocre. We could say that every week without an injection of the serum requires a Great Humanity roll -- if the roll is failed, the character loses a level of Humanity and Reason. When the character has a Humanity of Terrible and fails a weekly roll, the character loses everything that makes them remotely human, operating from the instinct to feed on human flesh alone. If a character that loses a level of Humanity and Reason from the lack of serum injections begins receiving the injections again, there is no Humanity roll required for that week, and they instantly regain one lost level of Humanity and Reason. Note that no amount of serum will raise a character's Humanity and Reason past their initial levels.
Wow, this sounds pretty depressing. Why would anyone want to play a dead person dependent upon the government to keep their humanity intact -- the same government that forces them to work inhumane hours, believing their dead status to confer no inalienable rights? We'd have to add some sort of hope for the characters. Something like an underground zombie resistance movement that works to free the enslaved zombies, providing them a place to live away from their dreary existence of endless toil. This group would be ideal for player characters, and would provide the GM with innumerable scenario options -- a truckload of new zombies is being brought to the local labor camp, for example, and the player characters must waylay it and free the "workers." Or a new labor camp is being built, and the player characters must organize and take part in terrorist-like operations against the living who are building it. For a more political campaign, these resistance groups could have made contact with living sympathizers who rally for zombie rights in the legal arena -- maybe one of the characters himself was related to a politician of no small renown when he was alive, and has made contact after death. That sounds better.
Oh, wait. There's a problem. What keeps the freed zombies from degenerating into a monstrous state? Certainly the government won't freely deliver the serum to escaped zombies. Granted, an enterprising GM could craft many scenarios around obtaining the serum by whatever means necessary, but that would quickly get redundant and many GMs wouldn't want to subject their players to the tension of realizing it's time for their injections and there's no serum at hand. So there has to be some sort of temporary stop-gap. Ah, we could say that the serum was based upon chemicals naturally occurring in the human brain. We could also say that early escapees discovered that in lieu of the serum, the ingestion of a fresh human brain could forestall the loss of that which makes them more than a ravaging, undead beast. However, in doing so, they are engaging in monstrous behavior that further separates them from the living. In game terms, a zombie character that consumes a fresh brain in typical zombie fashion as a substitute for the serum still needs to make a Great Humanity roll. If that roll is failed that character would only lose a level of Humanity and not Reason -- their intelligence is intact, but they are moving further and further away from the human norm. A character that has a Humanity of Terrible but an otherwise intact Reason and fails a Humanity roll becomes a sly, cunning monster whose main goal is the destruction and overthrow of the living as a way to secure the food source for the obviously superior living dead.
Now we have a zombie campaign with interesting potential. The characters are zombies, beginning with a zombie "template" granting initial Strength at Good, Humanity and Reason at Mediocre, which could be increased in line with whatever character creation system the GM is comfortable with. There's lots of stuff to do -- escape from the labor camps, join with a resistance cell, fight against the enslavement of other zombies, and try to keep from becoming a ravaging monstrosity.
El Purgatorio -- Sample Labor Camp
After years of mucking about with immigration problems, the state of California finally reached an agreement with Mexico: California created a "guest worker" program - including benefits and legal driving privileges - for Mexican "undocumented workers" in exchange for land grants in Mexico.
Located a few miles southeast of Tijuana, in an area of land granted to the State of California, El Purgatorio is located in the flatlands of Baja California. Completely self-contained, El Purgatorio has underground facilities that feature zombie powered generators, pumps, and sewage management. Above ground, the compound is host to numerous office buildings, apartments, factories, farms, and warehouses where the "workers" are stored between shifts.
One chain-link fence surrounds the entire compound. Additional fencing runs through the middle of the facility, separating the office buildings and apartments from the factories, farms, and storage warehouses. Tall guard towers spot the landscapes, giving decent views of the "worker quarters".
Zombie "life" at El Purgatorio is horrid. Shifts are long and hard, interrupted by regular injections of the brain serum and formaldehyde to keep the body preserved. There are no rest breaks as they don't need to rest; nor are there any lunch breaks as they don't need to eat. Those that decide to cease working are denied the brain serum and/or formaldehyde, forced to witness their body rotting away and feel the hunger for human flesh grow in their bellies. The few that don't return to work after the experience wind up as cannibalistic monsters, powering the generators and pumps underground as mules often powered wagons in the early days.
Juan Pedro de Sandoval is the Director of El Purgatorio. The "workers" call him El Jefe Diaboloico, "the Devil boss." He is assisted by Anthony Hernandez, who is head of security and internal affairs. Both Juan Pedro and Anthony Hernandez are fairly average NPCs. (Physical and mental attributes should average out to Fair, as should Skills. They both have the Mean and Nasty fault.)
Todavia Humano -- Sample Political Sympathizer Group
Todavía Humano, "Still Human," is a group that started in Tijuana shortly after El Purgatorio was first built. It began as a group local to Baja California, but quickly spread to the other Mexican states where the USA built zombie labor camps. As of late the group has garnered interest from liberal Americans who have taken an interest in the "inhumane" treatment of the living dead that occurs at El Purgatorio and other camps.
The current Todavía Humano spokesperson in Baja California is Roberto Bonita. While Roberto is a very passionate, animated and outspoken individual, he does not condone any direct action towards El Purgatorio by any member of Todavía Humano. He prefers to fight his battles in the political arena. Unfortunately, not all Todavía Humano members see eye to eye with him. Roberto is smart but not a very physically endowed person, and his traits should reflect that. (Mental attributes should be in the Good or Great range, whereas his physical attributes should center around Mediocre or Fair. Roberto should have Social/Manipulative skills in the Good or Great range as well, and he has the Gift of being a Smooth Talker.)
Adventure Seeds
- It's a hot and stifling day at El Purgatorio. The characters are all working around the receiving gate when a truck of "new recruits" drives up. The claxons sound as the zombies are herded back from the gate by the El Purgatorio guards. Suddenly, the truck accelerates at alarming speed and smashes through the fence, killing human and zombie alike. The truck door flies open and a zombie riddled with bulletholes in his chest jumps out. He screams at the zombies to run away before the tower guards put a bullet in his brain - as he falls to the ground, many zombies get the idea and begin to run through hole in the fence. The tower guards try to shoot them down, but there are too many escaping. Undoubtedly the characters should be some of the zombies that get away, and they must find their way to a safe haven with the El Purgatorio guards hot on their tails.
- Time has passed since the characters have escaped El Purgatorio. By now they should have fallen in with a Todavío Humano cell or another group of friendly undead. They should have also found out that they are in desperate need for the preserving serum, but maybe not yet found out about the human brain subsitution. They receive a tip-off that a truck containing a decent supply of the serum will be making its way to El Purgatorio via the back road that the characters haven happens to be close to. They'll need to organize a raid to waylay the truck and recover the serum for their group.
- Word is delivered to the characters that a Todavía Humano sympathizer has taken a job in El Purgatorio, and is willing to sneak the characters through the camp close enough to El Jefe Diaboloico to exact revenge. They'll need to figure out a way to get back into the camp, make contact with the sympathizer, and get to El Jefe Diaboloico. Of course, the sympathizer could be a plant by El Purgatorio or the U.S./Mexican government to capture the rogue zombies, but they don't know that.
- After escaping from El Purgatorio, the characters discover information about a zombie refuge in Northern California. They'll have to figure out a way to travel across the border and through California to find the commune. Of course, Immigration agents are well trained at spotting escaped zombies, and the federal government is searching for the commune as well. Can the characters make it to the refuge before it moves to a new location or is seized by the government?
