2007/10/20 Endgame minicon - "Corporate Zombies" John Steve Howe, Dir. Marketing Strong History Michael Philip Gibins, new CEO Complicated History (dies) Keith Bob from Accounting Well-rounded (turns at end) Devon Mark Isham, HR Strong History (dies) I ran Zombies in the Vineyard Saturday afternoon at the Endgame minicon, and we decided it would be a small company's new CEO and his corporate officers on a trust-building camping trip in Yosemite at summer, gone horribly wrong. There were other employees scattered about in small groups, at least one of which showed up as a zombie in the final scene. Accomplishments: Steve Howe, Director of Marketing, "It was my idea 1d6" to hire the new CEO. Philip Gibins, new CEO (who had bailed with a golden parachute from his previous company just before it crashed and burned), "I took out the old CEO 1d6" Bob from Accounting, "I did the right thing 1d6" Mark Isham, HR, "I learned patience" which he did not, so he took the trait "Fortune favors the bold 1d6" Also in their group as zombie fodder were Joe, VP of Sales, and Pradesh, Director of Engineering. Everyone's jobs were on the line, and everyone had their own agendas to push in addition to jockeying for status. The first conflict was over establishing "Philip's Reputation", which wound up as shrewd businessman BUT a team player. (Note that "but" rather than "and"). Philip took the trait "Teamwork 1d6" in experience, which came in handy. Second was when they discovered their food was spoiled and their maps were wrong. Bob had downloaded maps on his laptop, which he'd hauled along, but Joe the VP of Sales wanted to throw the laptop into the woods because they were supposed to be learning from nature, not solving their problems with technology. The stakes were "Bob's laptop" and Bob saved it. They found their way to a ranger station and Steve went in first, to show the CEO he was proactive. Inside was a ranger who'd turned, so the stakes were "Does Steve get bit?" He didn't, but the Zombie was still a problem. The next conflict was "Do we run?" with some arguing they should take out the threat, others saying it wasn't their problem and they should get the hell away (and undercurrents of establishing leadership and jockeying for status, as always). They wound up staying to fight it. The CEO Philip got bit in the struggle, without anyone noticing. The Zombie got set on fire, and knocked down, and they thought it was dead. Bob turned the unmoving ranger over with his foot, and we had a followup conflict, "Does Bob get bit?" To everyone's surprise Bob pulled out a gun and emptied it into the undead ranger, finishing it. Steve uses his ceramic shuriken and "Armchair Ninja 1d6" to bury one in the zombie's eye socket, but also hits Pradesh in the shoulder with a wild throw. So they hole up in the ranger hut, and unlock the gun cabinet with keys from what's left of the ranger's corpse. There's a bear rifle and a box of rounds, which Bob acquires since he knows how to use a gun. They listen to the radio in the cabin, hearing various confused reports of bear attacks and cries for help (and upping their knowledge of the zombie infestation level to 2d10, More Than One), but they can't get through to anyone transmitting. They hear some nearby boy scouts calling for help, and a big conflict breaks out over "Do we go save the boy scouts or stay safe here until morning?" The CEO and HR director don't want to, but Joe the Sales VP sways them with "I was a scout once!" and there's a heartwarming moment of former scout solidity. Steve & Bob convince everyone to stay together and go rescue them. Plus someone might be sending a helicopter to save the scouts, and they can get out of here and to the safety of the city. We only had an hour left at this point so we cut to "Do we save ANY boy scouts?" as our final conflict. The 6 businessmen spot a dozen zombies slowly breaking into the scout's cabin. Steve (I think) attracts their attention by shouting and waving the light and some zombies move towards them. Bob climbs a tree to be a sniper, but unfortunatly leaves a foot dangling. Mark climbs a tree too. Philip hides in a small cave as the zombies go by. Bob picks off zombies with the rifle, concentrating on the ones still threatening to break into the scouts' cabin rather than the ones closer to him, and eventually gets bitten on the ankle. Mark falls out of his tree and gets chased by Zombies. Steve lures some zombies away with the speakerphone on his iPhone, losing it, and eventually everyone but Bob, and the two NPCs, wind up fighting back to back against most of the zombies. The two NPCs get torn apart and devoured messily. The CEO, Philip, is taking the blow on zombies biting him with 8 dice, to save his big dice for raises back. It's epic. In the end, they burn through all my dice, including the 22d6 for the mob of 12 zombies, and save the scouts. Steve takes 4d4+3d6+3d10 fallout and lucks out with an 11, one long term plus experience. CEO Philip takes 4d4+4d6+13d10 for 20 (and experience) and narrates his death: all bloody and torn up and feeling his humanity slipping away, he makes it into the cabin, unlocks the gun cabinet, and calmly blows his own head off with a rifle. Mark from HR rolls 7d10 for 20 and experience, and narrates getting torn apart by zombies as he's taking them down with him. Bob from accounting taks 7d4+4d10 for 16 and experience, but we're out of time and rather than doing a healing conflict, he gives on that and narrates how the helicopter arrives and gets all the scouts and Steve and himself, but then IN the helicopter HE TURNS into a zombie. Freeze screen, roll credits. Clearly there'll be a sequel: "Corporate Zombies II: Death From The Skies!" It was tons of fun, and confirms the lesson that the PCs should start out with relationships among themselves. Not everyone has to know everyone as they did in this case, but it's much more interesting when they have past baggage and history, not just strangers. I mentioned Wilson Zorn's "Office Dogs at the Water Cooler" to the players, and if I'd thought of it I should have had one of the NPCs be a consultant facilitator from D.O.G. whose idea this trust-building exercise was, along to take notes. I didn't collect the character sheets after, but here's how the NPC Prototype sheet turned out. ________________________________________________________________________ Free Dice 2d4 2d6 1d8 Name: Pradesh, Director of Engineering (dead) Stats: Acuity 4d6 Body 3d6 Heart 2d6 Will 4d6 Traits: 1d8 1d4 2d10 1d8 Relations: 1d6 Blood 1d4 2d6 Name: Joe, VP Sales (dead) Stats: Acuity 3d6 Body 2d6 Heart 5d6 Will 5d6 Traits: 2d4->3d4 Everyone has their flaws 2d6 Good listener 1d8->1d4 Suckup 1d6 Team Player Relations: 1d6 Blood 1d6->1d8 CEO Philip 2d10 Company 1d4 Bob from accounting Name: Ranger Zombie Stats: Acuity --- Body 5d6 Heart --- Will 6d6 Traits: 1d8 Inhumanly strong 2d6 Hungry for brains 2d6 Slow 2d4 Unfeeling 1d4 on fire Relations: 1d6 Blood 1d4 2d4 Name: Zombie Horde (12) Stats: Acuity --- Body 9d6+11d6 Heart --- Will 11d6+11d6 Traits: 1d8 Slow 1d4 Unthinking 2d6 Unfeeling 2d4 Hungry Relations: 3d6 Cabin full of boy scout brains 1d8 Name: Stats: Acuity 2d6 Body 4d6 Heart 3d6 Will 2d6 Traits: 2d10 1d6 1d10 2d10 Relations: 1d6 Blood 1d4 2d10 Name: Stats: Acuity 3d6 Body 5d6 Heart 6d6 Will 4d6 Traits: 1d8 2d8 2d8 2d10 Relations: 1d6 Blood 3d8 2d8