zombie survival role playing game

Official Quick Start Guide

Second Edition

Version 1.1

Written by Christopher J. De La Rosa

Edited by Alex Huilman, Ivan Van Norman

Illustrations by Anthony Jones, Shar Tuiosa

 OFFICIAL QUICK
START GUIDE
T he Outbreak: Undead.. Zombie Survival
Role Playing Game is a unique crea-
ture in the world of role playing
games in that it presents a modular system
deep into their own psyche for safety. In
addition, with the proprietary SPEW-AI
(Strength Perception Empathy and Will-
power-Assessment Inventory) players can
to create your own horror setting. Not create themselves as characters and test
only can you explore a myriad of mortal their mettle and skill in the a world of
apocalyptic terrors.
terrors with a variety of undead or infected
monsters, but it can examine psychologi- With all that said, let’s get started on how
cal terrors that require characters to reach to play!

Materials
THE DICE are dice rolled in conjunction with an
attack. Very deadly weapons will allow
This game uses a Percentile System and a number of dice to be rolled as part of
utilizes a few different kinds of dice: the skill check. Many opportunities will
allow a character (or their opponent) to
uu or d% (2 ten sided dice: a tens die roll extra dice.
and a ones die)
n (Black Dice) Difficulty Dice: These
The main dice used are percentile. What- dice represent a more challenging action.
ever the percentage value is for any check, The result of a n will be added to any
the goal is to roll equal to or under the d% Skill Check a character makes, so it
target number. So, a skill check at 35% will make it less likely to succeed.
will require a result of 35 or less be rolled
on the percentile dice. THE WILD FACE
The special face that takes up the 6 side of
D5! (COLOR CODED D6) the d5! ( H † ) is a wild face that a GM or
These special six-sided dice are used to player can use to describe a unique effect
describe the other effects that run parallel based on the narration of the scene. Gen-
Materials............................... 002 to a character’s skill check. erally, the roll is “Exploding” which, in this
case means it counts as a 5, with a re-roll.
Skill Checks........................... 004 n (Blue Dice) Speed Dice: These For n , a GM can count the result as 0
dice determine turn order. A player rolls
as well.
Combat................................. 004 a number of n based on the complex-
ity of their action (usually n n ). The
Morale.................................. 005 turn resolves from lowest result to highest.
TOKENS
A player should have a few tokens to repre-
Rolling higher than 24 will mean that the
Damage and Healing................. 007 sent + and - (see Skill Checks Below)
player or opponent loses the remainder
of their turn. to resolve combat. Having a physical rep-
Gear.................................... 008
resentation makes this process much easier
n (White Dice) Depletion Dice: These and they can be anything from poker chips
are dice rolled to determine if gear that to sugar and artificial sweetener packets.
has finite uses has been used up. This roll They only need to be different colors or
is compared to the Capacity of the gear. marked in some way to distinguish one
If the roll is equal to or higher the gear from the other.
is exhausted and can no longer be used
(rolling low continues to be good!) Extra dice or tokens with 1-6 written on
them will also be helpful to keep track of
n (Red Dice) Damage Dice: These damage.

© 2017, 2018 Hunters Entertainment LLC, All Rights Reserved.

THE CHARACTER CY
For this guide, we’ll use Cy here for an Strength: 37
example.
Perception: 31 Gear

Empathy: 32 Knife

Willpower: 33 Hit ( + ): [ n Sl]

Accuracy
Base Dice Pool: uu n n
Skill Checks {SC%}: {Melee
Attack-Slashing 50%}, {Search
34%}, {Spot/Listen 34%}, {Nav-
igation 40%} Training Values:

Slashing Weapon First Aid Kits

Vitality

Health: (5) Pistol Survival Gear

Defense: 0

Damage Threshold: +6

THE INFECTED INFECTED

Here is what Cy faces… an infected person OPPONENT – (ZOMBIE) Viral: 3
who has unfortunately turned into the
Strength: 30 Special
undead.
Perception: 20 Slam (+ ): [ n Bl]

Empathy: 0 Gouge (+ + ): [ n Sl]

Willpower: Special Bite (+ + ,& & & ): [ nnn

Sl] +1 [Vi]. Adds n n to the
Movement: 10’ Infected’s dice pool.

Base Dice Pool: uu n n Undead: An Infected is Undead .

Skill Checks {SC%}/Attacks: Being “Undead” imparts a number of

{Balance 30%}, {Dodge 25%}, special effects that are covered in the
{Grapple 35% [ n
Sl]}, {Brawl Core Rules, but for simplicity sake are
30% [n Bl]}, {Spot/Listen excluded here.
30%}
Shamble: Movement adds + to n
Vitality the Dice Pool when not Engaged
with an Opponent.
Health: (1)

Defense: 0

Damage Threshold: + 10

QSG – 003
 In example 1.1, Cy generated

Skill Checks
a - with his check. A GM can
decide to use that in a way
that is narratively appropri-
ate. A single - wasn’t that
1.1 Cy has been lost for the better part of
the day as he picks through the ruins of Tri DEGREES OF SUCCESS AND bad of a failure, so he allowed
County. He is tired and night is beginning
to fall. He desperately looks for a familiar
DEGREES OF FAILURE Cy to make it back, but that he
took extra Time to get to his
landmark so that he can quickly make his destination.
Many skill checks, especially those done in
way back to base camp. combat, will have a range of possible out- If hegenerated - - or
comes. These are represented by Degrees - - - or more, the result
The GM decides that this action is best of Success (+ ) and Degrees of Failure
resolved with a {Navigation%} Skill could be even more dangerous,
(- ). such as being even more lost or
Check. Consulting Cy’s character sheet, we
see that he has {Navigation 40%}. stumbling upon hostile undead
Degrees of Success: Each full 10 below
or vigilantes!
the percentage chance on a Skill Check
The player rolls his d% for the skill check. rolled will generate a + (to a minimum
The tens die turns up a 40 and the ones die of generating + ).
turns up a 5; so the total is 45, which is
higher than the result he needed to get. Cy Degrees of Failure: Each full 10 above
fails, but not by much, so the GM decides the percentage chance on a Skill Check
that he does make it back to camp, but not rolled will generate a - (to a minimum
until nightfall. of generating - ).

Combat
Combat in Outbreak: Undead.. Is chaotic characters to do. The GM then decides RESOLUTION
and the tides can turn at any moment. As which Skill Check players use (unless The Resolution phase resolves in order
a survival simulation, it is safe to say that it’s obvious and they can figure it out for from lowest n Total to highest (ties favor
combat is a very risky situation that can themselves) and adds any additional n players and players who tie can roll off or
end in the demise of a character rather and/or n if necessary (if it’s a difficult or decide who goes first). Here, players and
quickly. lengthy task) to build players’ dice pools. GMs resolve the + and - generated to
determine the results of combat. This can
That said, there are many elements you The use of some Gear and many Skill Checks
go many rounds, but the Resolution phase
can use to your advantage, namely your will have pre-made Dice Pools that players
ends when all + and - are resolved.
creativity in describing your character’s can use as a base. A GM can modify it fur-
actions. Even if your luck fails you, a clever ther based on the realities of the situation. You can pass on your turn or only resolve
and reasonable explanation can mean the some of your available + or - , leaving
difference between life and death. CHECK some for later or to see how the rest of the
Here players and opponents roll their dice round plays out. A Resolution Phase can
I.C.R. (INTENT, CHECK, pools at the same time and determine how
many + and - they generated. Put
potentially go several rounds, but rarely are
more than two rounds.
RESOLUTION) aside the n , n and take any tokens or
counters used to represent the + and/or
A combat round is divided into three - they have generated in front of them.
phases. The Intent, Check and Resolution The GM does the same for all Opponents.
phases.
At the end of the Check Phase, DO NOT pick
INTENT up the n n or any n you rolled.
The Intent phase is where players can These Results will factor into how the rest
(briefly) deliberate on what they want their of the round plays out.

004 – QSG
 COMPETENCE POINTS
Characters that are unsatisfied with their The Character has access to other in-game resources.
Skill Check during an Encounter or want The most common are SURVIVAL POINTS (l). Survival
to expedite their progress at a task will Points are used to gain an extensive short term benefit
be able to draw from their pool of “Com- or they can be used to purchase gear while scavenging
petence Points”. Competence Points will or be used to buy character upgrading resources called
either grant an immediate narrative success “Gestalt Levels”. Survial Points are by far the most
to a character that is performing an Action important resource a character gets.
between Encounters (during periods of 6 )
or they can be spent to grant a + . Gamemasters also have their own resource called Risk
( W ) which GMs use to upgrade opponents or throw chal-
Generating a + does not immediately lenges at player characters. Player characters should
cancel out any - a character has gener- be very wary of Risk totals that a GM has because at
ated. They count as having both. If a player the end of the Session, a GM can use the remaining
wants to use the + to cancel out their - W points on a highly dangerous and exciting “Finale”
they may, but they do not have to. event or they can penalize the characters’ overall l
reward for successful mission completion.
Cy finds himself blocked from using the stairs
by a bunch of debris.The outside of the build-
ing has an emergency ladder, but it’s retracted
and locked about 10 feet off the ground. Cy
is familiar with the area, so he’s certain that
he can find something to allow him to climb
high enough to bypass the need to break the
lock or find the key. Instead of going through
the rigmarole of making {Spot/Listen%}
checks or {Search%} (potentially failing
and wasting precious periods of 6 with
re-rolls) he decides instead to spend a Com-
petence Point.The GM says that Cy finds a
wooden palette behind a dumpster and turn-
ing it on its side and propping it up allows
him enough of a height boost to jump up and
grab the ladder and climb up without any Characters that end the session with
further difficulty. unused “Competence Points” get bonus
“Survival Points”.

Morale
MORALE: I feel compelled to warn of the very real psy-
chological dangers that you as a player face. In just
the same way as you can only handle so much mental
strain,so too does your character. A character has a
“Morale” (J ) rating that will erode over time and as
the characters encounter “Stressors”.

While going into detail on this is beyond the scope of

this short introduction, be mindful that a Gamemaster
will have many tools at their disposal to cause your
characters much mental distress... and are encouraged
to use them. Many of them have associated W costs and
take the form of additional challenges. So overcoming
something that is potentially mentally damaging can
strengthen a character’s resolve, or it can break them.

QSG – 005
 with a narration. This can be combined
RESOLVING DEGREES OF with Triggered Effects as well for unique
SUCCESS AND DEGREES OF combat outcomes. This is strongly encour-
aged. Some Triggered Effects have
FAILURE other costs associated with
Example 2: Same example as earlier, only them, such as adding n to
SIMPLE RESOLUTION this time, Cy is not so sure his knife will do the user’s dice pool. There are
On their turn, a player or opponent enough damage to stop the undead who is many pieces of gear that don’t
can Resolve their + and - by simply going to get next turn to attack. Gary, his need + at all, rather they
canceling out each other’s + or - . friend, is nearby with a machete and has only need a certain amount of
This list will determine what can be used a turn after the undead, as indicated on Time (6 ) spent on it to get
to cancel what: the n totals. Gary has plenty of + of the desired effect.
his own to do substantial damage and his
Can a + cancel opponent’s + ? – YES machete is a better weapon. Cy decides to For instance a Map has the fol-
spend one of his + on the “Hit”Triggered lowing Triggered Effect:
Can a - cancel opponent’s + ? – NO Effect, but spends the other on shoving the
infected towards Gary so he can finish it Reference, Chart Course
Can a - cancel opponent’s - ? – YES off.The GM allows this narrative flourish
(even though his Intent was that he use the
61
Additionally a player or opponent can
resolve each other’s - as + in their knife to stab), so the undead will receive n Character can travel up to 1
favor. from the knife attack. Shoving will stall the mile without requiring a {Nav-
undead, effectively adding n to its exist- igation%} check.
There are ways other than Skill Checks% for ing Speed Dice Result.The extra n result
a character or opponent to generate + and is added to the undead’s total and thankfully T his means if a character
- . A character that has both + and - results in making it go later in the turn. spends 6 1 studying a map of
for whatever reason can use one to cancel out This allows Gary time to land his attack the surrounding area, then they
the other on their turn, but are not obligated before the undead does and adds the damage can proceed to their destina-
to do so. from the machete to the n the undead has tion without much difficulty so
already taken. long as it is within a mile.
TRIGGERED EFFECTS
Gear, Skill Checks and any Formations a Example 3: Cy has rolled poorly, he gener-
character adopts all provide a catalog of ated - - - .Thankfully, it is his turn,
Resolving an Opponent’s -
Triggered Effects that a character can use so he gets first attempt in Resolving them.
(Degrees of Difference & )
if they Resolve + or - in addition to The player says that Cy has tripped over
all the narrative options they can come up himself and dropped his knife, causing it to An important consideration to
with. slide under a dresser.The GM believes this is make is that it is perfectly
partially acceptable and allows the player acceptable for a player or a
Short Knife to resolve - - for Cy (one - for the GM to resolve the - of an
fall, and one - for dropping the weapon), opponent they are fighting as
Hit: + - [n Slashing], Accuracy leaving him with - that the GM gets to a + in their own favor on
resolve against him when the Infected’s turn their turn (and vice versa).
Example 1: Cy is fighting an undead using comes.The GM decides that the remaining In fact, some Triggered Effects
his trusty knife. It’s not a great weapon, but - should be a + in the Infected’s favor specifically require this. If
it works in a pinch and has saved his skin when making its attack, so the Infected gets it is actually required, then
many times before. His {Melee Attack an additional + to Resolve as damage with the specific Notation is called
- Slashing%} generated + + that he a “Bash”Triggered Effect against Cy as he is Degrees of Difference or & For
can use however he wants on his turn. When prone, scrambling for his knife. Since all of instance, the dreaded “Bite”
his turn arrives, he decides to spend both + Cy’s - are now Resolved, he is done with Attack of the Infected requires
to target the undead with two purchases of the Resolution phase. not only + , but a number of
“Hit”. He is allowed to do this because the
& as well because a character
“Accuracy” rule means he can resolve as many How the Resolution Phase plays out
has to make a serious error on
+ as he wants on his turn on the same should be a combination of storytelling
their own part to be targeted
Triggered Effect without penalty. In this case, and strategy. Each player is participating
with such an obviously deadly
his + + gives him the ability to target the in the storytelling experience by enriching
attack.
undead with [n n Slashing]. the events with their own narrative as they
come up with ways to resolve their own
NARRATIVE RESOLUTIONS + or - and their opponent’s - .
A player may decide to resolve any +
or - they have generated on their turn

006 – QSG
 Damage and Healing
When a character or opponent takes Likewise “Heal Lowest n ” means one leaving the 1 1 on him to be removed
Damage, they must keep any n Result n is removed, but it must be the lowest later… he’ll wake up achy, but no more
that was rolled against them (or substitute Result among the ones a character has worse for the wear.
with numbered tokens or markers if dice assigned to them.
are in short supply). The Results on these There are many ways that the Heal rating
individual dice matter, as n with higher NATURAL HEALING - SHORT REST can be modified (+ or -) to determine
Results are harder to heal. A character that is able to take a Short Rest what n can be removed by Natural Heal-
(for at least 6 1) is able to target them- ing. For example Rest in a clean, secure
DAMAGE THRESHOLD selves with “Heal n (Sb)”, meaning any
one n with a Result of the character’s
place will increase the Heal rating, while
uncomfortable, dirty or exposed areas will
Each character and opponent has a Damage Strength Bonus or lower can be removed. reduce it.
Threshold (+ ). This is the Total amount
of damage he or she can take before they Nick is taking a Short Rest after having FIRST AID KITS AND MEDICAL
sustain an Injury. If the total of the n spent time evading the undead and getting SUPPLIES
rolled against them are greater than the into some minor scrapes. He has a Sb of 3 First Aid Kits and Medical Supplies allow
Damage Threshold, then n need to be and has 2 2 1 assigned to him in for {First Aid%, Advanced Medi-
allocated to Injuries. The player must move Damage (so, 5 Damage total). During his cine%} to have “Heal”, but the Result
as many n as they wish to an Injury until period of Short Rest, he decides to remove of the n it is able to remove is largely
the Result of the n total allocated to one of the 2 since it is the highest Result dependent upon the + spent on the
their character is equal to or less than the he can remove that is equal to or lower than Triggered Effect and the quality of the
Damage Threshold. Moving n from a his Sb.This leaves 2 1 (3 Damage) he equipment.
player to an Injury is called “Aggravating”. still has to address at a later time.
During dangerous Encounters, it would be
Cy has + 6. He has received three n NATURAL HEALING - LONG REST rare for any character to be able to remove
from a multitude of attacks he took over the A character that takes a Long Rest (for at n in any serious amount. Even “First Aid
day: 4 1 1 for a total of 6 Damage. least 6 6+d3) is allowed to target them- Kits” and such supplies are temporary mea-
He is literally at his Damage Threshold. If he selves with one of the following: sures made even less effective when the party
takes even one more n with even a result is under duress by being attacked.
as low as 1, he will need to take an Injury “Heal All (Sb)” to remove all n that has
(or aggravate an already existing Injury) a Result of their Sb or less
INJURIES
“Heal n ” (meaning a single n of any
HEALING Result). When n are Aggravated to Injuries,
they are much harder to heal. The char-
The “Heal” Triggered Effect can sometimes Cy is taking a Long Rest at the end of the acter needs serious medical attention and
only remove n of certain amounts. So, day and has a chance to patch up his wounds their recovery time is much longer than
using something with “Heal 3 ” can with greater care. He has a Strength 37 a mere Short or Long Rest. If the Total
remove one die with a 3 result or less. (so he has a Sb of 3) and currently has of the n allocated to Injuries is high
There are other possible permutations of 4 1 1 assigned to him. He decides enough (depending upon the Injury) the
the entry, but they are pretty clear. For that the one 4 is too much of a liabil- character suffers a number of debilitating
instance, “Heal All (X)” means that all n ity, so instead of removing the 1 1 , he effects or dies.
with a result of X or lower are removed. decides to address the larger wound, the 4 ,

FLESH WOUNDS
Flesh Wounds are not as overtly dangerous as other injuries, but each injury that causes flesh wounds reduces a character’s Damage
Threshold by 1 until Treated. Unlike other injuries, a Flesh Wound can sometimes be treated without specialized gear.

Magnitude (n total assigned to Injury)

nn Lv. 1 Minor Laceration: Reduce Health Points by 1. Reduce Max. + by 1.
nn Lv.2 Laceration: Reduce Health Points by 2. Pain. n n to all {SC%}. Reduce Max. + by 2.
nn Lv.3 Severe Laceration: Reduce Health Points by 3. Reduce Max. + by 3.
nn Lv. 4 Open Wound: Reduce Health Points by 4. Reduce Max. + by 4.
nn Lv. 5 Arterial Bleeding: Reduce Max. + by 5 , Death. jury Entry
In
Save Throw: {Dodge%, Toughness%, Martial Arts%} Sample
Treatment: Sterile Dressing, Sutures, Antibiotics, Pain Medication
Recovery Time: d6 days (6 120)

QSG – 007
 Gear
Characters can make use of several kinds 4, First Aid: 3, Command Apparatus: 6.This Nick’s favored weapon is his .45 handgun. It
of gear as they attempt to survive. Gear means that absent of all other modifiers, has several Multipliers based on the distance
will not only provide a range of Triggered Nick can always add +4 to the percentage to the target but at close range, is has 2x. As
Effects a character can use, they can also chance of a pistol of any sort (even one he’s stated in the earlier example. Officer Nick
grant bonuses to Skill Checks. unfamiliar with) or +6 to gear he may use has a TrainingValue of Pistol: 4.This means,
to command his team or civilians (radios or that at close range, he gets a +8 bonus to
TRAINING VALUES hand signals even) and +3 to any first aid
he attempts to perform.
{Pistol%}. So his normal {Pistol 37%}
is raised to {Pistol 45%} at close range.
A character will have a certain level of Long Gun First Aid Kits
experience and ability with particular cat-
egories of Gear. This number is called the
GEAR BONUSES
“Training Value”. It is the base Gear Bonus a Gear that provide a bonus will be indicated
Pistol Command App.
character can add to the percentage chance with a Red or Green icon. Gear does not
of a Skill Check’s success when using that give a flat bonus. Rather, gear multiplies
category of Gear. existing ability. The amount of this “Mul-
tiplier” will be found in the icon itself.
Nick is a young officer for the Tri County This is the amount that a Training Value is
Police. His training gives him a fairly robust multiplied by to determine what a charac-
range of TrainingValues across multiple Gear
The normal +4 is
ter’s actual Gear bonus is when using the increased to +8 when
categories. Most notably, Pistol: 4, Long Gun: specific Gear in the entry.
using gear rated as 2x.

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008 – QSG