Hot Sheet Zombies

Creating a Zombie in A Disparity Campaign

In the popular mythos the walking, unintelligent undead or zombie for short, are the result of the sickness but this is not true. While there is a sleeping sickness that can make sufferers glassy eyed and slack jawed but that does not make a zombie. A zombie is actually the result of a special brew, made by a small group of brew masters.

How Did Zombies Come to Be?

The recipe was originally designed over 1,200 years ago by a brew master who was looking for a way to resurrect the dead and allow them to live indefinitely, as a means of generating obscene amounts of personal wealth. While he did manage to prolong the life of subjects near indefinitely the process cannot resurrect the dead. The maker of this potion, who did not bother to test it before selling it, and those users, who did not follow the instructions diligently had abnormal results. (See table at the end of this PDF)

How to Make A Zombie?

The treatment to create a zombie must be administered to a live subject. Generally the process goes something like this:
1.

Brewer acquires recipe and manages to successfully make the potion. (Most attempts stop here; either for want of recipe or cost of ingrediance- note to storytellers the acquisition of these items can lead to several campaigns).

2012 by Katie Gatto and David Roth

Brewer finds a subject who is either willing to be restrained and poisoned for several days, or who is not given a choice in the matter. 3. Brew is administered to the subject over a period of 10 days with an equal dose given each day. On the 10 day the subject will either die (a percentage roll of 1 to 50) or survive as a zombie (a percentage roll of 51 or higher).
2.
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Traits of a Zombie
Once a target has become a zombie the target retains its natural speech ability, skills and a portion of its memory. The target may know a name or the streets of a city but not why those things are familiar. The target also loses all free will and must obey the commands of its creator. This can, in some cases make a zombie look slow as it attempts to interpret those orders in the current situation. If forced to do something opposite the zombie will freeze up until the situation is over. To that end the zombie is nearly physically indestructible and the head must literally be severed. Otherwise all wounds will be healed in 24 hours. To that end a zombie has near infinite life points. In order to even knock the target zombie unconscious an opponent will have to do 250 to 300 points of damage. This effect does not change any other stats. In that respect zombies make perfect guardians for treasures, formidable foes in combat and in some applications useful spies, though those who resent the role may not volunteer anything that they are not directly asked, or told, to do.

Key Zombie Stats (Sample Level 5)

Level 5 Life Points 285 (to knockout) Lineage Scholar Skills

2012 by Katie Gatto and David Roth

Attractiveness: 30% Brewing: 5% Dodge: 5% Intelligence: 55% Location Sense (Indoor): 10% Location Sense (Outdoor): 10% Lock Picking: 5% Lowlight Vision: 0% Object Lore: 15% Observation: 10% Penmanship: 25% Persuasion: 15% Poison Brewing: 0% Poison Identification: 20% Reading and Writing: 45% Stamina: 10% Stealth: 10% Strength: 20% Veracity: 10%

Group Intelligence
Some zombie makers have posited that zombies have a limit to their compliance, and that limit comes when five or more zombies. At this point they have the chance of resisting the decrees of their masters and working towards their own ends as free individuals. While that may sound idea there is only one catch. The now freed zombies seem to be caught in some kind of a group mind. Though these kinds of zombies often pursue their goals with amazing single-mindedness, and can stay well hidden for months or even years. Though often their first act is to kill their creator, either as an act of revenge or to prevent any further control. Note- These kinds of groups are rare, at least as far as most people know, as only those whose goals have put them on the wrong side of law enforcement have been exposed to the public. In truth there could be small communities of these types of undead living anywhere quietly.
2012 by Katie Gatto and David Roth

*Abnormal Results
Any deviation from the schedule of doses will result in an abnormal result. Roll a D6 to see what happens to a subject who does not have a normal course of the brew. 1. The target has perfect location sense and perfect night vision, but they become so sensitive to sunlight that it burns their skin for 1 D 10 Points of damage every 10 seconds. 2. The target loses all points in the Dodge field. 3. The target loses all points in the Attractiveness field, as the subjects skin begins to peel off of the body. This will happen every month, for a two-day span, though the odor of decay will last all month. 4. The target loses all sense of dexterity and walks with a shambling gate, has a 75% chance of dropping any object that they try to pick up. 5. The target gains a hypersensitivity to all poisons, which have a double the intended effect. 6. The subject gets all of the strength of a zombie, but it has no natural intelligence.

2012 by Katie Gatto and David Roth