Return to the Burbs (3)

"Ooh, pizza"

Last week we left our two 'heroes' standing arguing at the garbage bins  (they'd actually failed to activate) and most of the zombies that were generated seemed to be heading in their direction.
Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour they legged it in the hope of getting to a vehicle, breaking into it, finding the car keys inside (or hot wiring it), starting it up, driving off  and all before the zombies made meals out of the two of them -what could possibly go wrong ?

"Wait for me, you..."

As both of them were without weapons, they would only have a 50-50 chance against a zombie, not good odds  and they attempted a fast move over the fence, Mattias made it over and didn't wait for Scott (after all you don't have to run faster than a zombie in the apocalypse just faster than your mate!).

Zombies tucking in

Not far away,  more zombies had spawned close to their position, but were luckily more interested in the newly opened deli pavement, just outside the supermarket.





At the front of the Supermarket, traffic was still attracting more zombies, headed towards the chap in the brown suit (later to be called superman)

Whilst Scott still had some sway (little though it was) over Mattias they agreed to make for the closest vehicle betting on the closest zombies in front of them being more interested in their meal.

"Going somewhere ?"

"I would so not have driven off without you...."

Whilst Mattias peered through the window of the vehicle to spot keys Scott managed to haul ass over the fence and catch up. As luck would have it, the keys weren't in sight (OK, so it was bad luck and the door was locked too for good measure).One bit of luck that our dynamic duo did have however is that the zombies feast was just around the corner out of their line of sight.
Lucky because if either of them witnessed it, it would have been their first time) and they would undoubtedly have been stunned !
"Super(market) man" defeats two zombies in quick succession and then ran for safety whilst a local stood watching "not bovvered" and  chewing gum presumably. 

 "Oh feck...." 

With the recent turn of events at the last vehicle, they decided to head for Scott's neighbour's jeep, at least they wouldn't have to break into that.

Just what they needed

However, nothing is ever simple with these two. As they neared the jeep they realised that the newly poured concrete and approaching zombie was probably going to be a bit too much for the two of them to tackle.

Lunch queue forming

The tail-enders

Once more the two took to their heels and jumped the fence whilst more zombies closed with them to their front and rear.




Elsewhere the traffic had stopped flowing (it wasn't going to have any further effect on this scenario so I called a halt to the chance of any more arrivals of vehicles or people), but the flow of zombies hadn't.

"Not so super now are you, meat ?"

 "Superman" decided he was out of breath and stopped running and went down to gloriously rolled treble ones by the zombie (low is good btw) giving the zombies three successes against his single one. This would have the effect of drawing every nearby zombie to the subsequent feast.

"Woohoo, smorgasbord" 

And there were quite a few of them by now !

"I'm right behind you"

The remainder of the scenario was a bit of an anti-climax and turned into a something of a Benny Hill sketch as the heroes tried to escape around the back of Scott's house avoiding the zombies and heading for the safety of spawn point 2 and hidden from view. 

The  zombies gave up looking for them as they luckily went out of view. (The zombies failing to activate may have helped too.)

At this stage I called the game, the 'heroes'  had somehow blundered their was through and reached safety.



So it wasn't a very exciting game full of action, but it had all the elements I was looking for to test my own version of ATZ (and its derivatives). For our next scenario I streamlined some of my ideas that had worked but were clumsy in execution. It was interesting to note though how reluctant the two players were to enter into any form of combat with the zombies, yet "Final Fadeout" almost forces civilians to enter into combat, wrongly imo.

That's it then for this week, our two "heroes" will return with an equally gripping tale next week as I once more "Return to the Burbs" - you have been warned.

In the making of this scenario any similarity of fictional characters with persons living, dead or undead is entirely intentional .

As always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

Return to the Burbs(2)

General view of the Table

There was no real overall objective for the players in this scenario, I left it to them to sort that out for themselves. The two 'heroes' Scott and Mattias merely had to meet up and go to Scott's house (top left of the overhead photo below).

Taxi slowing so it can stop next turn

The ER (encounter rating) of the area is 3; Mattias Groschen has an Initiative and Leadership of (4) and all his other abilities (Shooting, Melee, Fitness and Driving) are 3's He has an attribute that gives him an increased Initiative of 1 when he is by himself.  Scott Briand has Initiative and leadership of 4, a melee ability of 3, but all his other abilities are 2, he has an attribute that allows him an extra initiative when interacting with people, but lessens his initiative for anything other than reaction. Mattias' companion in the vehicle was a jogger "Brendan Cram" that he was giving a lift to from their previous encounter.

Mother and child from park making their way to their vehicle

The game started up with little general activity, Mattias' taxi entered the table and slowed down so that he could exit the vehicle and cross the road to meet up with Scott.

"So, where's the all-day breakfast ?"

Shoppers and Sid heading for their vehicles.

A lone zombie appeared at spawn point (1), the furthest from the  players, but strangely no others appeared even with the traffic noise whilst all the civilians (with all abilities of 3) just went about their pre-planned routes.

"Run for it !"

The first PEF to be revealed turned out to be two unarmed civilians whom we decided were fleeing from the recently spawned zombie.
Whilst the other two PEF's had each increased the ER of the area, it was now ER 5 ! - (Oh dear, in my games this has a direct influence on the chance of zombies appearing).

"Zo, Scott, eet eez like dis"

The mother and child got to their vehicle without incident whilst Scott and Mattias eventually met up, Mattias had to explain that his companion Brendan had decided that he would try and make it home on his own (a failed die roll). He also recounted the experience of his morning's outing to St. Mary's Heights.
Other civilians continued doing civilian type things (as they do) whilst the driver of the delivery truck shut the back doors of his truck.
Somehow the shuttered door to the supermarket had jammed in a closed position (an event card)


 

"Unt, zer ver undead everywhere"

The two pals started their leisurely walk down the street oblivious to the few zombies that were arriving, Mattias sharing his recent experiences.
 The noise made by the various vehicles now started to take effect aslittle as it was.

Sid and the shoppers making their getaway

The zombies by this stage numbered a mere two and we were about 4 turns into the game !

The family still fleeing

Family still fleeing whilst the driver gets in his truck

 Over the next two turns the situation remained more or less the same, with the zombies being very hesitant to move or increase their numbers despite the increase in noise from various vehicles.

Shoppers getting in their car, Sid leaving.

Locking up the shop

Inside the store the girl on the till was locking up, the manager was wondering what to do about his jammed shutter, whilst the other shop assistant was getting ready to go home.

The "heroes" ambling along

Another civilian, going to the now closed Supermarket

 The zombies still weren't in any great numbers, a single one did appear in the path of Sid, trying to get a free lunch, but was no match for Sid's van.

Sid making good his escape, clipping a zombie

Other than the single zombie appearing the other two present seemed very indolent and happy enough to watch their lunches disappear into the sunset.

Nonchalantly walking home

The noise from vehicles inevitably attracted a few more zombies to the area but only the two were directly in the path of our heroes and their home.

"You three get away from my car !"

"You see this camera Mattias ... "

Another event (I've returned to having events appear on a '6' each turn - the same chance as it used to be.)

Zombie slowly appearing in the alley

Almost overlooked by the players. a steady flow of zombies had appeared in the alley behind the bank, behind our heroes but they seemed more content on chasing cars.

The blue car dangerously close to the zombies

Oblivious to most everything that was happening around them chatting about how much his camera and snazzy new flash unit was worth, the two looked on in horror as the staggering forms in their path proceeded to attack the slow car in front of them and all hell seemed to break around them.







The blue car was suddenly attacked by the two closest zombies

Whilst another zombie attempted to attract the attention of the accelerating truck by throwing itself under its wheels. (the driver wasn't even aware of it and carried on his merry way, wondering what that thump was)

Before...

The shop assistant, having now attracted the attention of the three nearby zombies was caught completely unaware and went down under a hail of flailing arms and teeth.

...and after

Civilians 1, Zombies 3

The blue car fared a little better,the driver didn't quite fight off the two zombies but did manage to knock one of the two zombie attackers down  - she also lost control of the vehicle as she ducked down, luckily though the car swerved to the right away from the park wall.
The truck accelerated straight ahead and clipped yet another zombie that was foolish enough to try and hitch a lift.

It was at about this stage that Scott and Mattias decided that it would be a good idea to head back to the bins they had just passed and have a quick look for some form of weapon.
 They also had a plan...
Spawn point 2, had been depleted, if they could make their way there, then they'd be home and dry so to speak.

Apparently they were both reticent about putting their hands into the garbage and stood saying things like "You, go first", "no after you" and so on. even though they were in imminent danger.
The two zombies that had attacked the blue car were now attracted to what appeared to be slightly easier picking - the two arguing chums by the bins; one zombie stood up whilst the other staggered onwards.

Elsewhere the march of the zombies continued

The blue car was making its way out of the area, but more traffic was steadily attracting more zombies (mostly into the alley behind the bank).

And that's where I'm leaving it this week, about half-way through the game. It's actually taken about as long to write up this portion as it took to play the entire scenario and next week I'll finish off.

Mattyoo as "Mattias Groschen"

Bryan as "Scott Briand"

As my camera is consistently on the blink at the moment I'd like to thank the two players that joined me in this, Mattyoo playing the part of Mattias and Bryan/Vampifan, playing as Scott, both of whom were kind enough to take most of the photographs you see here.




I'd also like to welcome my latest follower "Stephen" who apparently doesn't have a blog and of course, as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.