"Zombies with guns and swimming zombies" Topic

OK, I think this has been discussed before, but I had a couple o' questions so thought I'd just go ahead and ask again.

What are you thoughts on zombies with weapons or tools? Police zombies with guns, fireman zombies with axes, butcher zombies with knives, etc. Is the zombie cognizant enough to use the weapon/tool?

Other question: Can zombies swim, walk underwater, or in other ways cross a body of water too deep to wade?

Oh, and one more. Can ragers walk as fast as the living or just somewhere between the living and regular ol' zombies?

And another one: What ratio ragers to regular zombies? 1 in 6? 1 in 10? 1 in 20? 1 in 100?

What say you?

(I had a really long drive today for a doctor's appointment – the boredom just leads to bizarre thoughts…)

Ok, I will be the one to field this at first and will be cursed for it. Yep, I am a geek. Of the Fast Zombies suck nature. No ragers at any cost. No tools either. If you just allow them to shuffle around and take chunks out of the local populace, they will do just fine.
No ragers necessary as they do not exist in the Romero universe.

As to underwater…yes they just plod along as they have no air in their lungs. (WWZ) plus Agentino. The Sharks act wierd though.

No ragers, no fast zombies. I'm a traditionalist like the Captain.

No tools, despite Cemetery Zombie in the original Night of the Living Dead using a rock to bust Barbara's car window.

No swimming, but, yes, if they haven't bloated up with the gases of decomposition, they can walk underwater. Unless they could see, smell, or otherwise sense some live people on a boat or island, though, I don't think they would.

Of course, any such discussion of zombies is bound to attract a number of posters who'll point out that without brain activity, zombies couldn't exist, yada yada yada. Just remember that this is a "what if."

I say ragers only if the Z's are the result of some sort of toxic sludge or such. Not sure about %'s.

I'd say they could use weapons/toons in hand to bludgeon things with (ex: doors, locks, etc.). I don't think they could search for a tool to use though.

Water is a hard one: would the gases of decay in them make them bouyant or would their lungs fill with water and they'd be stuck at the bottom.

The only zombie ability I really hate is the stealth ones that can climb sheer surfaces without making a noise and have no odor. A recent comic I read had a baby zombie that did all of the above.

What I was thinking of was zombies on one side of a river and survivors on the other. Would the zombies try to cross the river to get to them? I think you've answered that one. OK, I can go with the other responses as well. I watched that new tv series on zombies and I think they moved too fast for zombies – almost as fast as the living. I'll save the ragers then for special case. Perhaps some secret government biomedical facility trying to find a cure accidentally creates ragers instead.

I like my zombies to move slow and not use weapons. I do think it is ok for a zombie to be carrying a weapon – they are just to mindless to be able to use them.

I will be allowing my zombies to move through water, but if they cant get out at the other side then they are trapped – swimming pools for example. I figure if the suckers cant climb, then they can't get out of pools or any body of water that has a wall or equivalent.

Good idea, shelldrake.

In one of the 'classics' of the zombie canon, Lucio Fulci's "Zombie 2", there is the famous zombie vs shark scene. To re-enact that scene you also need a hot topless scuba girl.

I'm more eclectic and like zeds fast or slow, but think the fast type are better as 'pseudo-zombies'. They are people infected with rage virus or demonic possession as per "REC"/"REC2".

No guns!

In my All Things Zombie campaign if a human gets knocked down by a Zombie then it counts as a possible wound and must check if the zombie-ism disease sets in. If the player gets infected then they become a rager and move at a running pace for a number of turns, eventually becoming a full fledged Zombie. I'm viewing raging as the first step in becoming a Zombie so ragers are not encounter by our survivors but rather could be what our survivors become.

I don't allow zombies weapons and treat water in the same way as shelldrake does in our campaigns.

Already discussed TMP link , and the conclusions are:

- in all friendship we agree to disagree, zombies are as variable TMP link TMP link as vampires TMP link (maybe a matter of level of 'realism' you wish to maintain TMP link ); for me I'm ready to allow 3 types of zombies, according to their origin (and decay since?). Remember *true* zombies -the Voodoo ones- could be used as enslaved workers and even assassins.

- it's your game, so it's *your* universe!
About zombies origin, biology and abilities:
link

¿ 18th C. Zombies vs werewolves ? = TMP link

i like all zombie types, but nowaday, i find slow zombies harmless…and i must say that the most scaring zombie comic i have readed in the last years is "crossed", with ragers able to use weapons, simple tactics and drive vehicles

Sundance 19 Aug 2011 6:55 p.m. PST wrote:
OK, I think this has been discussed before, but I had a couple o' questions so thought I'd just go ahead and ask again.

What are you thoughts on zombies with weapons or tools?

Classical (IMHO) slow moving Zombies can use rocks and sticks.

Fast moving Zombies (I consider the virus type such as in I am Ledgend) maybe.

Police zombies with guns, fireman zombies with axes, butcher zombies with knives, etc. Is the zombie cognizant enough to use the weapon/tool?

Police guns: NO!
Firemen w/axes: Maybe but used more as clubs.
Butcher with Knives: maybe but would not be able to stab just slash.

Other question: Can zombies swim, walk underwater, or in other ways cross a body of water too deep to wade?

Again IMHO YES and No they could cross a body of water but would not really swim more like a person who can't swim and just struggle to get across.

Oh, and one more. Can ragers walk as fast as the living or just somewhere between the living and regular ol' zombies?

I don't know what a rager is!

VR
James Mattes

James, I don't really know what they are either, or their origin. I just know they move faster than zombie zombies. Perhaps someone else can point to their origin.

Traditionally, undead can't cross running water. Even the Ringwraiths waver on the bank and are reluctant to follow Arwen. If 'zombification' is a disease, this aversion can be related to rabies-induced hydrophobia?

In Romero's "Land of the dead" zombies walk underwater towards their unsuspecting meal ;)