Here’s an idea for a silly little meme like game I thought up this morning while roaming about the house getting ready for work. The inspiration came from the fact that there’s been a lot of zombie apocalypse related stuff on TV recently, well, OK, two actually: The Walking Dead and Dead Set. As I got ready for work this morning and looked at some of the more unusual things sitting in my closet I started to think to myself, what would I grab before fleeing the zombie apocalypse?
OK, here’s the game. Start off sitting in front of your computer or on the coach looking at the TV. The news has just hit that the zombie apocalypse is here and the zombies are no longer contained. You get a message that a friend of a friend has liberated a bus and will be at your door in one hour to pick you up and get the heck out of town. Start packing.
Try not to pre-plan this. You can work with a co-habitant (roommate, spouse, etc.), but don’t make a plan ahead of time. You’ll have to shout at each other in a frenzy while packing up what you need to survive. Remember that you’ll have to carry everything out to the bus in a rush, so make sure you can carry it all.
After the hour is up, take a picture of yourself carrying all the stuff you packed. Then make an itemized list of everything you packed and post it along side the picture to the interwebs. I’m thinking I’ll make up a scoring chart so you can figure out how well you did, but I haven’t worked out the details yet and I’d like to post it separately anyway. Don’t cheat by reading the scoring chart ahead of time, the fun is in trying to quickly figure out what might actually be useful to you in surviving the zombie apocalypse.
And because this is a roleplaying game focused blog, here’s how to take this one step further for an awesome roleplaying game. Get all your players to do the exercise. Have them bring the picture and the list with them to the table. This is their character sheet. Grab your rules of choice (perhaps All Flesh Must Be Eaten?) and start playing.
Point system below break:
Zombie Apocolypse Points
The following point system is completely off the top of my head. I reserve the right to modify or add to this list in response to actual entries, or if I ever actually go through the exercise myself. A single item may qualify for multiple point awards (eg. a hammer could count both as a useful tool and a hand weapon).
1 point per set of undergarments (socks and underwear)
2 points per full change of clothes (not including socks and underwear)
3 points for each sandwich worth of food (use your best judgement)
5 points for each liter of water (1 gallon = 3.79 liters)
5 points for a sleeping bag or other bedding
10 points for a tent or similar
3 points per gallon of gasoline
3 points per useful tool (hammer, hacksaw, crowbar, etc.)
5 points for a hand weapon (baseball bat, billy club, etc.)
1 point per missile if you also bring the appropriate weapon to fire it (bullet, arrow, etc. Yes, the missile weapon itself is not worth anything, it’s not much use without ammo.)
10 points for some form of body armor (bullet proof vest, chainmail, etc.)
25 points for a first aid kit
50 points for surgical equipment (assuming you have the knowledge to use it)
10 points for a coil of rope or cord
5 points per light source (flashlight, 3 candles, etc.)
10 points if the light source is easily rechargable (solar, hand crank, etc.)
3 points for matches or a lighter
2 points per item of cooking gear
3 points per extra set of batteries for any battery operated item that also got point
5 points per printed book containing useful survival knowledge
3 points per bar of soap
5 points per emergency radio or other one-way communication device (hand-held TV, etc
10 points per two-way communication device (CB, pair of walkie talkies, etc.)
