Cursed of the Walking Dead

The First Supplement for The Cursed RPG

By Michael EvansFourth Rough Copy

Chapter 1Introduction

Cursed of the WalkingDead

It has been five years since theinfection started. At first it was a nightmare. They came out of no where. First one, thenseveral, then swarms. No one seemed tohave any idea what was going on. It took afew weeks before anyone even knew aboutthe infection. After that, no one knew whatto do.

Well, the military came in and set upbarricades. They were only letting thosewho had no physical signs of contact withthe infected, no scratches, bites, cuts, whathave you. The crowds grew and the infectedcame. The military would shot first and askquestions later when an infected showed up.

Soon the military had the ones withno signs of infection rounded up and lockeddown tight. I have no idea what happened inthose lock downs, I wasn’t lucky enough toget in. Those like me, those left to fend forthemselves, quickly learned how to defendthemselves. Sever the head from the bodyof the infected, destroy their brainscompletely, was the only thing to stop them. The infected were simply walking corpsebent on spreading the disease. They felt nopain and did not stop.

After a few month of beheadingformer friends and family and you wouldthink that zombie world couldn’t get anycrazier right? Well, I guess the universe hasa more wicked sense of humour than us,crazy got cranked to eleven. Eight monthafter the infection started all sorts of othermonsters came out of the wood works. Werewolves and other werecreatures werethe first. They seemed intent to battle the

zombies. They seemed immune to theinfection and where great warriors. Next thevampires came out of their crypts and startedto show the zombies they weren’t the topdead anymore. Witches and wizards werenext, providing us with safe places to hide. Many other came out.

Originally these creatures fromfolktales and superstitions hid among us. They were content to hide behind the sceneand merely survive, but when the zombiesstarted to attack, they gathered together todecide whether they would let us die orshow themselves and save us. I guess I canunderstand why they hid, Many humanswould have fear them and wanted to destroythem since they were so powerful and morecapable of shear impossible feats than anynormal humans. If not for the zombies, theywould have been the target of humanitiesfears and aggression. Some believe thatthese creatures unleashed the hordes ofzombies, but those are people who neverfought the zombie horde by their side.

Within three month of the wizardsand witches and werewolves and vampiresand everything else came out to fight off thezombie horde; new settlements were beingset up. They were using magic to ward offthe zombies. The old governments weregone and every town and settlement was itsown power. There was a system ofcommunication set up and things startedlooking up for humanity. The world weknew was gone. The things of ournightmares ended up saving us. Everythinghad changed, but we were getting ready torebuild.

Things were going great for the firstthree or four months. That was when thecommunications started to break down.

First it was one town, then a few, then aftera couple of weeks the whole system wasdown. When group were sent out toinvestigate, they found several towns hadbeen eradicated. The magical wardsdestroyed and everyone gone. It was lookinglike a zombie attack with the amount ofblood and body parts left behind, but it wastoo organized.

For a year settlements and townswere attacked like this with no clues to tellus what was going on. Our communicationswere spotty at best at this point. But after ayear of these attacks, we finally got a fewsurvivors. What they told us chilled us toour bones. The zombies have gottensmarter.

Their seemed to be a ruling class ofzombies, what we have come to refer to aszombie lords. They are more intelligent thanthe zombies of the past and seemed tosomehow control the zombies, somethingour wizards and witches were not capableof. They used tactics and strategies ratherthan just brute force. This up the ante in ourwar with the zombies.

It has been about two and a halfyears since the discovery of the zombie lordsand we are still looking for an effectiveweapon against them. Our time will come. Hopefully, since you are reading this, thewar with the zombie horde is over and wewon. If not, hopefully all hope is not lost.

Welcome to the End of theWorld

Welcome to Cursed of the WalkingDead, my first supplement and world bookfor The Cursed RPG. I love zombie moviesand first got the idea for this game afterwatching Zombieland. A lot of time andenergy went into this book, so I hope all youreaders enjoy it. So far this supplement hasyet to be play tested. I hope to change that,but if anyone out there gtes a chance to try itout, please, please, please, please, PLEASEgive me some feed back atthecursedrpg@gmail.com.

About this Book

This book is broken into threechapters. They are:Chapter 1: The Introduction

This is where I introduce the book. This addition is very basic. If I get thechance to play test it I will add details ofplay testing and other notes I have thoughtabout the supplement here.

Chapter 2: The Player’s SectionThis is where all of the information

the players need to know goes. Thisincludes the GM as well.

Chapter 3: The GM’s SectionThis is where all the information that

only the GM should know goes. Thissection is for GM eyes only!!!

Chapter 2The Player’s Information

In this chapter is the information thatthe players should know when they startplaying Cursed of the Walking Dead, thefirst supplement for the Cursed RPG. Thischapter will contain very basic backgroundinformation for the setting, changes toclasses, changes to any other rules the playerneeds to know. All players (including theGM) should at least browse through thischapter.

The Beginning of the End

No one in authority seems to haveany idea how it started. All anyone knowsfor certain is that the first cases of the illnessstarted coming in on December 21, 2012. The illness was new, not like anything theyhad seen before. The patients had feversthat spiked beyond the norm, often beyondwhat a person should be able to survive andthe patients still suffered. The patient isunable to eat anything but raw meat, and hismind deteriorates severely. The patientwould usually last a few days to a week likethis and die.

There were mass amounts of thesecases coming in all at once, more than whatcould be a natural occurrence most believed. The governments of the world tried to keepthe people from panicking, but it washappening all over the world, in large citesand small towns alike. People were terrifiedthat it was some sort of mass terrorist attack,no one knew who to blame since everyoneseemed to be getting hit at once. The streetsstarted to turn red with blood from everyoneturning on everyone else. Violent crime justexploded everywhere. This is what the firstand second week of the new illness was like,

and then it got worse.Within the first week of the new

illness the world wide web was attackedmystically. Something tore through it like ahurricane. No one knows who or what wasbehind the attack, but the world wide webwas no more. The Spirit Realm was severedfrom the computer system. The satellitesystems were down and could barelyconnect computers within a city, let alonethe world. Phones were the same. This wasnot a natural phenomena.

Not long after the web was severedfrom the mortal realm all the spiders seemedto disappear. Both ordinary mortal spidersin the mortal world and spirit spidersvanished. No one was able to gain access tothe spirit realm of the spider and none wouldcome when summoned, even when their truename was used. Shamans with a spiderspirit for a totem spirit found themselves nolonger under their taboo. They retained theirshaman powers and were not marked as oathbreakers, but they were alone.

People were still catching this newillness, more and more people were beingbrought to the hospital as victims of violentcrimes, and still others were coming downwith regular everyday illnesses. Soon nearlyevery hospital world wide were so overexerted that only the most severe cases wereadmitted to the hospitals and the rest weresent home. Even then, the hospitals wereovertaxed by the amount of patients they hadto treat and many cases were stillbacklogged. Many people were left waitinglonger than they should have and the morguegot so backed up that many of the bodieswere there much longer than they wouldnormally have been.

It was about two weeks after the first

cases of the strange new disease startedcoming in that the first case of the victimsstarted coming back from the dead. After afew days, the victims of the new plaguestarted to rise from the dead. Some recentlyburied dug themselves out of their graves,some during funeral services, some still inthe morgue, waiting to be examined postmortem because of the back log. Thesenewly risen dead were hungry for the fleshof the living. Most of the victims, thosewith their brains and spinal cords still intact,fell victim to the illness, except that theillness ravaged them much quicker than thefirst batch. Rather than days, it took hoursfor the victims of the newly risen dead to gothrough what the first batch did, die, andcome back.

People were even more afraid whenthe dead started to rise. Violence was on therise even more than when the whole newillness started. Governments around theworld tried to take control of the situation. Martial law was instated pretty much worldwide. Quarantines were set up and areaswere set up to protect survivors. Thisproved useless as for several weeks after thezombie invasion started, people were stillcoming down with the slow infection.

Strange graffiti started showing upnot long after the dead started to rise. Allover the place was written ``Ask Zork`` and`Zork is the Ender of stories``. Few peopletook notice of this, those that did had nounderstanding of the meaning.

Welcome to America

The American and Canadiangovernment tried to protect as much of itspeople and culture as possible. They tried tobarricade as much area as possible from thewalking dead as possible, protect as many asthey could, but there was still many peopleleft to the walking dead and had to fend for

themselves. Even the barricaded areas were not

safe. For nearly a month after the plaguestarted, people were still coming down withthe slow illness. It was not long until manyof the barricades areas were either overrunfrom the outside, or infected from within. Soon, everyone was at the mercy of theundead horde.

The last of the official USgovernment was lost to the scourge in thefirst three month and the Canadiangovernment fell within six month of theinfection. Soon, North America was just acollection of individual city states ratherthan a uniformed government. Everycommunity was a government onto itself,cut off from all but its closest neighbouringcity. Much of the continent was lost to theundead horde, and everyone was at risk ofbeing invaded.

From Worse to Strange

As the undead continued to walk theearth, raiding and killing and bringing moreand more people back from the dead, peoplestarted to lose all hope. Strange cults startedto form, worshipping the walking dead,saying they were the punishment of god. These groups started to help the undead gainentry into their communities and wereattacked for their troubles like the rest.

It was about eight months after theinfection that a new and powerful allyappeared to help humanity. Soon peoplewho seemed to be invisible to the undeadhorde appeared. They were able to changetheir forms to monstrous animals withinhuman strength. They help to defendmany of the fortified, but falling cities. Thiswas how the were creatures introducedthemselves to the world.

It was not long after the werecreatures showed themselves to the world at

large than the vampires decided to take backthe night and show the zombie horde whothe real lords of the undead were. Once thevampires joined the fight against the zombiehorde it was not long before The Cursedshowed themselves and added their magic tothe fight. By March of 2014, Most of thesurvivors of North America know about theexistence of the whole mystical community.

It is not long before the fortifiedwalls of the cities are Warded and protectedmagically as well as through mundanemeans. Communication, both mundane andmystical, is set up and brings all the citystates throughout North America back incontact with one another by the end of 2014.

While the zombie raids on the walledcities are no longer a threat, any trip outsidethe walled cities are dangerous and takenvery seriously. Since the walled cities arenow safer, the people turn to research. Specimens are captured and studied. Whilethe collection of specimens is a dangerouscampaign, much is learned from it. By mid2015, it is learned that it is not all theworld’s dead that are returning from thegrave, but just those that were infected withthe strange disease. They also learn that thezombie’s saliva gland is mutated and nowproduces the serum that causes the strangeillness. It is also believed that the disease innot 100% communicable. All seems to begoing well until December 18, 2015; allforms of communication are cut.

A New Threat, the Same But

Worse

The blackout in communicationslasts about a week. Mystical means arefixed, more or less. It is not until midFebruary of 2016 that completely reliablecommunication between cities areestablished again. The mundane means ofcommunication was sabotaged, and a very

powerful ritual was used to knock out themystical means of communications. Oncethe communication was back, the survivorsrealised not all the city states werecommunicating.

Groups were sent out to investigatewhat was going on. Zombie attacks on thesegroups were more fierce than usual, buteventually some managed to get to the lostcities. What they found there disturbedthem greatly.

The fortified and Warded cites wereovertaken. The Wards were damaged toallow the undead horde to enter and nosurvivors were found in any of the halfdozen cities that were lost.

This news really unnerved the rest ofthe cities. Zombies were not smart enoughto be able to understand how the Wardsworked, or how to destroy them. Someonehad to have taken the Wards down for them. Fingers were pointed, neighbour accusedneighbour, violence broke out. Someblamed this religion or that race, someblamed the witches and warlock, some saidthe vampires have a comradery with theirfellow undead which is why the undeadhorde never attacks them. This discoverynearly destroyed the peace the survivorswere desperately held on to. Manycommunities throw out the ones mostcommonly blamed in that cities, newcommunities formed quickly and manycities became enemies of one another.

Many chaos religions came to powerat this time, worshippers of Anansi, Loki,and Discordians were among the mostpopular. Many communities outlawedmagic, certain religions, would not allowcertain races to enter. As all this foolishnesswent on, cities continued to fall.

On October 24, 2016, a survivor wasfound. It is unknown how he survived, buthe had an interesting story to tell. From hisaccount the attack started with cutting off all

forms of communication (both mundane andmystical). The town was suddenly cut offfrom the rest of the world. The next thingthey knew was a horde of zombiessurrounded the city. This was notparticularly worrying since the city waswarded, but then some of the zombiespicked up rocks and started to chip away atthe mystic writ. Before anyone had a chanceto really do anything the zombies wereinside. The zombies killed anyone in thestreets first, then started to systematicallysearch the houses.

Those that heard the story could notbelieve it, the zombies were never thatintelligent, and there was no known way tocommand one of them. That was not eventhe worst of the story, the survivor claimedhe had seen two known magic users getattacked, killed, and rise again. While thestory was difficult to believe, the witnessunderwent every test known (both mundaneand mystical) to see if he were lying, andthey could not help but conclude that he wastelling the truth. Most of the remainingcities started to work on learning whatchanged in the zombie horde.

Intelligence gathering on the newthreat was difficult, but by late December of2016 it was learned that some of thezombies have evolved and not only becamesmarter, but could also control the otherzombies. These evolved zombies havebecome known commonly as zombie lords. It was not until March of 2017 that aspecimen zombie lord was captured.

The zombie lord was taken to afacility that was so reinforced and Wardedthat it should have kept the armies of Helloutside, and was in constant contact withother close-by cities. Scientists, magicusers, and scholars alike came and studiedthis new bread of zombie. It was learnedthat zombie lord``s brain was stillfunctioning on a level close to a normal

human. It was also learned that the zombieformula created in his saliva gland was morepotent than that of normal zombies.

Those studying the zombie lord didnot have a great amount of time to studyhim. Almost exactly a month after he wascaptured, the zombies staged an attack onthe base the zombie lord was being held. They started off cutting all the means ofcommunication. While this has been aneffective measure in the past, it onlyhindered them this time. Since many othercities were in constant communication withthe base, when the communications wentdown, it was known right away thatsomething was wrong. Unfortunately,reinforcements were hours away. For someunknown reason no one could teleport in orout.

After communication was cut,groups of zombies used crude tools to try toget rid of the mystic writ for the Wars. Itlooked like this was going to stop them,until a few zombies started using explosives. Soon enough damage was done that the basewas breached, the soldiers were ready forbattle with the hundred or so zombiesgathered. Unfortunately for them, thousandsmore advanced on the base, almost fromnowhere. The soldiers were no match forthe zombies, but they did put up a goodfight, doing substantial damage to theundead ranks.

By the time reinforcements arrived,the base was over run and the specimen wasamong the zombies destroying the place andkilling the researchers. Because of thereinforcements, however. there were a fewsurvivors that night to tell their tail.

Around the World in Undead

Days

Europe

The story of America is similar tomost of Europe. Most large cities, and manysmall ones, were hit hard and fast. Theinfection spread quickly and no one seemedto have any idea of what was going on. Communication went down quick so therewere communities that had no idea what wasgoing on. People panicked, violenceerupted, cults formed. Many people in manyplaces assumed that it was the end of theworld. Television, telephones (both wiredand cellular), the internet, any form of masscommunication seemed to go down allacross Europe, seemingly without reason. Europe was devastated and the walking deaddecimated what was left.

British Isles

The British Isles was hit hard by theinfection at first. The infection seemed tohit a higher percentage of the population andthe change took half the time. Magicseemed to skyrocket all over the BritishIsles. The rise in magic seemed to make theinfection faster and deadlier.

A week after the infection started, ina quiet, secluded glen in Scotland, a largestone rose from the ground with a swordburied to the hilt within. A voice whisperedin the ears of all those left living in theBritish Isles that they have lost their way. That old oaths were broken and that thepeople must return to the old ways. ArthurPendragon had been shown the way and hisheir would take up the sword and lead hispeople in the old ways, the ways they weremeant to follow. When Arthur Pendragon’sheir draws the sword and the people swearfealty to him, the dead that hunger for theflesh of the living shall threaten them nomore.

After these words were spoken, allknew where the sword could be found.

People journeyed from all over the BritishIsles to the spot. Many travellers wereattacked by the walking dead, but theinfected would not come within miles of theglen. It was a holy place, protected from thewalking dead. A community formed there,but the area was too small and resources tooscarce for this one glen to be a permanentsolution. Months went by and no one whostepped forward as the possible heir ofArthur Pendragon could remove the swordfrom the stone. People were gettingdesperate.

It was not long before all gathered atthe stone was forced to try to pull the swordfrom the stone. One by one all those whohad gathered at the glen tried and failed topull the sword from the stone until a quiet,unassuming young man named Evan Alistairwas forced to step up and unwillingly triedto pull the sword from the stone by thosewho were forcing everyone to attempt it.

When he grasped the sword, he couldfeel the power coursing through it. He triedto let go, tried to escape the sword, but hecould not, and as he stepped back from thestone the sword slid out of the stone like ahot knife from butter. As the sword left thestone, in the distance, a grand castle rosefrom the ground. Every eye was on the sightin front of them. When they were able tolook away there was an old man standingatop the stone that the sword was onceembedded in. He was thin, old, wizened,bent. His hair and beard was long and grey,every inch of skin exposed was tattooed inwoad, ancient writing and symbols of powerand strength. His eyes held the flames ofhell and no one who looked at this fraillooking old man could see anything but abeing of power and fear.

The old man smiled at the crowd andall but Evan cringed. He smiled and said toEvan “The blood of kings runs through yourveins, my boy. My name is Merlin and I

have come to help you lead your people. Come, we have much to discuss before youtake your kingdom.” The two then walkedoff toward the newly risen castle.

Over the next few years Evan, underthe tutelage of Merlin, lead the people of theUnited British Isles (the new name of theBritish Isles) fairly and justly from NewCamelot. He formed another round table ofknights sworn to uphold the ideals of theUnited British Isles and New Camelot andprotect it from the undead scourge. Over theyears, the rest of the mystical world cameinto light. All were welcome who wouldswear loyalty to the United British Isles andNew Camelot.

Middle East and Africa

The middle east was hit particularlyhard, but the Taliban and their allies wereready. They were able to walk among thezombie horde and be ignored by them. Theywere also able to grant this immunity toothers who swore fealty to them. Theycould also take back this protection ifangered. The Taliban took most of theMiddle East and Africa and ruled with aniron fist. They had no United Nations orAmerican forces to contend with and anyonewho angered them were fed to the walkingdead.

For the first year or so the Talibanruled. Around May of 2013 several leadersof the Taliban were found mauled to death. It looked like they were ripped apart byzombies, but they suppose to be protected bytheir god. It did not take long for the zombielords to emerge and lay waste to the taliban,and in so doing, much of the Middle Eastand Africa. By the end of 2013 hardly afifth of the population was still alive. Mostthat were had become bands of roamingnomads.

Israel

When the sickness started Israel washit like anywhere else. The dead rose withinweeks like everywhere else. What madeIsrael unusual is that within hours of thedead rising a booming voice was heard byall the living of Israel, the voice even pausedthe advance of the walking dead. The voicesaid, “I am the Lord of Lords. You, mychosen children, shall be spared this plagueupon the earth. Listen to the rabbis andKabbalists. I will not allow the dead thathungers for the flesh of the living to plaguethis land.” With that, the walking deadthroughout Israel burst into flames. Many ofthe water reservoirs also started to boil. From then on, the walking dead would notenter the land of Israel.

Authorities quickly realized thatsoon everyone would soon be there to findsanctuary and soon it would beovercrowded, and destroyed if they were notcareful. It did not take long for those livingin Israel to band together and erect a greatwall to fortify Israel against invasion. Within months survivors who could not liveunder the yolk of the Taliban made their wayto Israel to be kept in the makeshift shantytowns surrounding it . The Israelgovernment did not know what to do. Theycould not just let the survivors suffer outthere, but if they let everyone in, it wouldnot be long until they were crushed by theweight of the crowds.

By the middle of November 2013 aKabbalist sorcerer suggested that anyonewho would swear to bind themself tosupport and work toward strengtheningIsrael through magic could be allowed toenter. Punishment, dealt by the magic theybound themself to, would be death. Whengiven this choice, as apposed to facing thewalking dead or the iron fist of the Taliban,most of those gathered around Israel gladly

swore to do all they could to help thesurvival of the great nation. The boarders ofIsrael more than doubled and god protectedthem. Many wish to spread the boarders asfar as it could go, but the holy men and wisemen of Israel argue against it, and the peoplewho were there when the voice of Godspoke are afraid to contradict to advice givenby the rabbis and Kabbalist.

Asia

Most of China and Japan was wipedout. Large population in a small area wasthe downfall of these two places. When thedead started to rise, the population of thesetwo countries plummeted to an eighth of itsoriginal within months.

In Japan, the survivors fell into oneof four groups. Those who followed the oldway of bushido and the samurai, the hiddenpath of the ninja, the path of the yakuza, andthe path of pop culture. The samurai and theyakuza have openly gone to war with eachother over the open country sides. The ninjaclans lay claim to the harsher, harder to getto places that have always hidden them. They have given to “recruiting” those thatare young enough to be properly trained inthe ways of the ninja and are less likely toremember the family that they were less thanvoluntarily recruited from. Those thatfollow the path of pop culture aredetermined not to give up the creaturecomforts that they have grown accustomedto. They are determined to take back themajor cities from the walking dead. Theylive life like they were living in a zombiesurvival video game. They travel throughthe cities in groups armed to the teeth. Theytake what they need and they don’t give acare about anything but having a good timeand killing zombies.

Many of the other countriesthroughout Asia were not hit nearly as hard.

Most were only attacked by zombies fromother countries. There were no zombiesanywhere on Hawaii until the middle of2014 when a group walked up through theocean onto the shores of Lanai. They werequickly dispatched with.

AustraliaAustralia and New Zealand were

untouched by the zombie plague. They werecut off from the rest of the world for a yearand a half. No form of communicationswere available with the rest of the world. Itwas not until midway through 2014 that thepeople of Australia and New Zealand evenknew about the zombie plague.

What Caused the Outbreak

Most do not know the reason for theoutbreak of the zombie infection. There aremany theories from government experimentgone wrong, to large corporations takingshortcuts in safety procedures during R&Dfor new products, to the mystical trying totake back the world. There are a lot oftheories and not a lot of fact. Here are themost popular theories.

1) The cure for the common cold.People said it could not be done and

corporations have spent millions trying. Thecure for the common cold was found byHealth Tech Pro corporation. They hadfinally found the cure for the common coldand it had FDA standards. They started themass release in late November of 2012.

They released it in many major citiesworld wide. Most of these cities were hithard and first when the infection broke. People panicked and stormed the offices andresearch facilities of Health Tech Procorporations, raided hospitals and clinicsknown to have the cure, and otherwise setout to wipe out the cure not long after the

outbreak happened. Many reasoned thatsince the outbreak hit so hard and fast inmany of the places the cure was released thatit must have been the cause. They figuredthat the company bribed the FDA and otherdrug regulatory commissions in order topush the drug through quickly and test werenot fully run.

Critics of this theory say that thereason the cities that the drug was releasedin was hit so quickly and heavily at first wasbecause they were heavily populated areas. One person would get infected and there wasno place for the uninfected to really getaway. It would spread like wildfire becauseof how close the people were and howquickly and easily the disease spreads. Thatit happened so quickly in these cities iscoincidence, it also started around the sametime in places that the drug was not shippedto.

Ulterior theories along this line isthat the drug was sabotaged. Some believethat terrorists or rival drug companiestampered with the shipment of drugs thatwere released. Wether the zombie infectionwas an intentional outcome of this sabotageor not is debated among those who believethis.

Whatever the case, the rioters whotried to destroy the drug for the good ofmankind may have damned humanityinstead. Because of there wontondestruction of the drug, there is preciouslittle left to study and make a remedy if thedrug is, in fact the cause.

2) Terrorist attack.This is an extremely popular theory,

especially in North America. The peoplewho fallow this line of thought believe theinfection was created and spread by politicalor religious extremists. Most believe it wasthe work of those who seen the world ascorrupt and in need of cleansing. No one

seems sure if it was a political or religiousstand the terrorists were taking however.

3) Government experiment gone bad.Well, this theory is inevitable. There

are always those who think that every newdisease is a government experiment in germwarfare gone wrong, and well, this is onedosey of a disease. Basically this theory isthat either the American government wascooking up this disease to take care ofvarious hostile government (siting on largedeposits of natural resources) and thenvaccinate their men to go in and clean houselater, or that one of the various hostilegovernments cook this up to deal with theirneighbours (who are siting on large depositsof natural resources) and anyone whointerferes with their invasion plans and thenvaccinate their men and go in and cleanhouse. Whichever government it was thatsupposedly created the disease lost controlof it before the vaccine was created.

4) PandemicSome believe that this disease was

cause by a mutation of an already existingdisease. A disease that jumped fromanimals and mutated to attack human DNA. This has been seen in the past in cases ofbubonic plague, smallpox epidemic, and theebola virus.

5) Death magic.There are those that believe that

wizards and other mystical creatures createdthe disease with their magic. They can raisethe dead, the wizards can not be turned intothe walking dead, the zombie hordes ignorethe undead unless the undead attack first. Alot of people find this suspicious. The factthat they did not come out of hiding until afew month after the zombies started to attackis enough to have many people at least alittle weary of magic users and the mystical.

6) Act of GodHe did it before with a flood. He had

hundreds of babies slaughtered in a singlenight. He visited plagues on those hedeemed unrighteous before. There are manywho say that the zombie plague is divinepunishment for our wicked and secularways.

7) Preordained

Many say that this just happenedbecause it was time for it to happen. Theoutbreak first started on or near December12, 2012, that is when the Mayan calenderspredicted the end of the world, and that isexactly what this is. This is the end of theway of life we had come to know and relyon when the Mayans said it would happen.

Changes in Classes

A lot has changed since thedead started to walk the earth. Magic hasbecome widely accepted and used. Many ofthe creatures that once stalked thenightmares of humanity have stood up andbecome humanities heroes. Even many ofthe spells that the Cursed use have changed. It should come as no surprise that the Cursedthemselves have changed. This section isfor the changes or additions to the rules forvarious classes of Cursed.

Human Hero

Little exists that could help weed outthe weak like a zombie apocalypse. Evenamong the survivors, some stand out morethan others. While humans may not becapable of reaching the same physical andmental limits as The Cursed, nor have thepowers over reality as The Cursed, they tendto be more capable with skills and morerounded.

To determine the based stats for anormal human roll 1D6+1 for each stat. Alternatively, roll 5D6 and add 5 for thepoints distribute between the five base stats. Secondary stats are determined the sameway. Humans get skill points equal to thesum of the his base stats divided by 2 then

add 35. Humans can get the Zombie spelland Summon spell like skills, but they musthave at least 1 rank in Magic skill to do this. Humans get 20 freebie points and can get upto 5 points in penalties. Humans can get anybonus or penalty available to all Cursedcharacters (not the ones that can only begotten by specific classes), whether thebonus or penalty are mystical or not.

Shamans

The natural balance of the world hasshifted. The spirit world closer to our worldas it was before the apocalypse. The wildhas taken back much of what man stole. Ithas become easier for shamans to lookacross the veil into the spirit world. TheConcentration check for shamans to see thespirit world is now one degree of difficultyeasier.

Shamans are the bridge between thisworld and the next. They often work tobring the world toward a balance, andzombies seem to know this. If a shaman isin a group being attacked by zombies, thezombies seem to be able to sense the ties theshaman have to the spirit world and willattempt to sever them. Zombies will attack ashaman before anything else (except

mystics).This rule apple to those shamans in

good favour with the spirit world. Thosethat broke an oath with a spirit and has beenmarked as untrustworthy by the spirit worldare ignored by zombies. The spark of lifethey retain from serving the spirit worldafter they die seems to fade. A zombie willnot attack a shaman oath breaker unless theshaman attacks a zombie first. A zombielord can see him as living and like he isundead (like necromancers).

Another major change for shamans isthe fact that the spider spirits vanished andcannot be called to leave their realm. Anyshaman who had a spider as a totem spiritlost their permanent taboo, but retained theirshaman powers and were not marked as oathbreakers to the other spirits. Some shamanschose to seek out new totem spirits and takeon new taboos while others remainedunattached. Within the last couple ofmonths the spider spirits have returned. Many who had been totem spirits have goneto rekindle the connection they had withtheir shamans. Some of the untetheredshamans have taken back their spider spiritand taboo while other refused. To play ashaman without a totem spirit has no ruleschange except they have no totem spirit tocall on for help.

Another difference is that loa caneasily ride a zombie (not zombie lord). Loado not generally come to the material plainsince this plain of reality and that of the loaseldom intersect, but a voodoo priest, ashaman who deals primarily or only withloa, can call loa to the material plain and theloa is able to ride the zombie. Loas do notusually like to ride zombie for long, it is likewearing a suit that is the wrong fit, withsome parts too small and some parts toolarge and just uncomfortable in general.

Mystics

Mystics have a strange and powerfulconnection to magic and nature. They areclosely connected to the flow of livingenergy that flows through the world. Zombies seem to hate this. If there is amystic in a group, he will be the first to beattacked by zombies. The only reason azombie would attack anyone else before amystic is because a zombie lord commandedit.

The Blessed

The blessed are filled with the holylight of their lord. This light can burnzombies. A touch from one of the blessedcauses a point of damage per turn to thezombie for as long as the zombie is incontact with the blessed. Zombie lordssuffer from this burning as well. Zombiescan recognise one of the blessed and willusually try to get away from him, unless azombie lord commands the zombie not toleave.

Summoners

The real change to summoners sincethe rise of the walking dead is the rise of thenecromancer variation. The necromancervariant class is as follows.

Necromancer

In a few short years the worldchanged drastically. Death’s cool grippermeates the land. The land changed, thepeople changed, the magic changed. As aresult there has been a rise in a specificvariation of the summoner class, thenecromancer. Now one third of thesummoners coming to power arenecromancers.

Like all summoners, thesenecromancers have a connection to thedarkness, but somehow, they have gain aconnection to the dead as well. They canraise the dead, use the dead to healthemselves, call the dead, even walk throughthe hordes of zombies unnoticed. Necromancers tend to be even more coldand alien than their summoner kin. Deathseems to hang off them as an almostpalpable aura, making it difficult for them tohide what they are, but that does not stopmany from trying.

With a horde of zombies scratchingat the doors of humanity, and with no ideawhy, having such a strong connection todeath can be dangerous. Many people find ithard to trust the necromancer, even morethan their other summoner kin, and severalcommunities will not allow them to stay. That being said, there are also somecommunities that will welcome them withopen arms, if they swear through bindingmagic to help fight the walking dead with allthey have.

Necromancer's Penalties

Like summoners the necromancerhas a connection to dark forces which causeschanges in them. All necromancers get a -1to their Social stat and start with one pointof taint. Also necromancers have an oddaura of death about them. Maybe the scentof fresh dug grave soil fallows him, or plantsstart to dies when they are within a fewmetres of him. Whatever it is, it shows hisconnection to death.

Necromancer's Bonuses

1) Speaking Beyond the VeilNecromancers can cast the

Necromancy spell well. Necromancers get a+10 to Necromancy spell. Necromancers

can also automatically see restless ghoststhat linger in this world. Necromancers canspeak to and be heard by the ghosts that arestill in this world.

2) Know Thy FateNecromancers can tell if the spirit of

the deceased is still in this world, on theLow Road, or has moved on. To do this thenecromancer must either have at least a bodypart (eye, tongue, hand, head, etc, but onewhole piece) if not the whole body, or atreasured possession (money will not do,unless it is a specific piece of currency hecarried with him all the time such as a luckypenny). To use this power a roll of rank + ½Soul + D20 is needed. This power starts atrank 5 and can be bought up like a spell. The difficulty level is the target’s Will roll(target always rolls for this).

3) I'll Take the Low RoadNecromancers have a power similar

in effect to shaman's ritual Crossover. Theexception is that it only takes thenecromancer to the Low Road. This powercomes with a risk, fail by two or moredegrees of failure and the necromancer dies. The roll for this is ½ soul + ranks + D20. Difficulty for this is Hard. The necromancerstarts with 5 ranks in this power and can buymore like it was a spell.

4) Wake the DeadNo one know how they do it, but

necromancers can re-animate the body ofsomeone long deceased. The necromancercan either raise the corpse as a mindlessslave or give the body intelligence. Thenecromancer can either put the original soulback into the body, which is the easiest wayto make it intelligent, if the soul hasn'tmoved on, or he can put a different soul intothe body. The roll to raise the dead is ½ soul+ ranks + D20. the difficulty level is

Challenging and he starts with 5 ranks in itand he can buy more like it was a spell. It isa will check to put a soul into a body. If thenecromancer is putting the original soul in abody then he rolls against the targets willand if he succeeds then the soul is put intothe body. If the necromancer is putting adifferent soul in the body then thenecromancer rolls a will check and both thebody (at his previous will stat) and the soulgets to make a will save and if either of themsucceed then the power doesn't work.

The body remains active for a weekplus a week per degree of success and thenecromancer can only have one animatedcorpse per 5 ranks in this power at one time.

5) Stubborn as the DeadLike summoners, necromancers are

constantly involved in battles of will. Thisgives them a +2 to their will.

6) Dead RulesLike summoners, necromancers deal

with dangerous things that follow strictrules. The dead have very rigid rules theymust follow in order to interact with thisworld and the necromancer learns themquickly, or they don't last long. Necromancers gain a +5 to Law skill.

7) WardsWhile not as good as their summoner

cousins, necromancers still know the valueof a good ward. They get +2 to Ward spell.

8) SummoningLike their summoner kin, the

necromancer can summon things, though notas well. The necromancer gets a +3 toSummoning spell.

9) True NamesLike the summoner, necromancers

knows the value of true names.

With a successful Riddles skill check,difficulty of Difficult, a Necromancer candetermine a part of a true name of a creaturethe necromancer has had a chance to studyfor an hour or so. Every degree of successgives the necromancer another part of thetrue name, and every true name has fourparts. With the full true name of a creaturewithout a soul, it must obey any order givenwith its true name. With the full name of acreature with a soul, the Summoner has a +20 against the creature. An entity hiding ortrapped within something else will have atleast a part of its name hidden.

Like all the other classes, this doesnot include the zombie or zombie lords. Seerules changes for magic on how zombies andzombie lords are effected by true names.

10) Partial NamesEven partial names have power. For

each part of a true name a necromancerknows he gets a +5 when dealing with thatcreature. Necromancers with part of a truename can do a research check (eitherappropriate lore or library check at difficultylevel Challenging, or riddle check atdifficulty level of Hard) to find out morepieces of the name. The checks take abouttwo hour, and even if the necromancer doesnot have the Library bonus he is stillassumed to have enough informationgathered over time to do the research (he justdoesn't get to roll his Library check and musteither have the lore or use riddles). ASuccess gives you one more piece of thename, any degrees of success will give you a+4 to research for the next part of the name.

If any part of a true name cannot befound by the sixth time the necromancerattempts the research then the necromancercannot find that part of the true name fromthe resources at his disposal. In order tocontinue trying to research that part of thetrue name new resources will be needed. It

will take approximately $1000 worth of newreference material to continue the effort.

Like all the other classes, this doesnot include the zombie or zombie lords. Seerules changes for magic on how zombies andzombie lords are effected by true names.

11) Converse with the DarknessThe Darkness is neither good nor is it

evil. The Darkness watches, the Darknesslistens, the darkness waits, and sometimesthe Darkness suggests. The Darkness has noill or good will towards creation or thatwhich exists in it since it is, was, and alwayswill be and is generally unconcerned withthe fleeting moment that is reality.

All necromancers share the link theirsummoner cousins have with the Darkness. Necromancer are capable of conversing withthe Darkness itself. The necromancersimply find an area without light andconcentrate his power (with a Magic checkwith a difficulty level of Average) and hecan speak to the Darkness. While thenecromancer must speak aloud to theDarkness, he hears the response deep in hissoul. The Darkness never gives straightanswers, if it answers at all.

14 ) Self-Made Man... Sort ofOne of the strangest and most

powerful of the necromancer's abilities is theability to graft parts from dead bodies toreplace their own. If a limb is severed, theycan take a limb from the dead body ofsimilar size. At first the limb is useless,barely able to move. After about a week itchanges to match the limb that was missing,even taking on the DNA of the missing limb. The only difference is that if there wassomething wrong with the necromancer'slimb (ie missing fingers or toes, skin cancer)that problem is not there if the new limbdidn't have it. If there is something wrongwith the new limb before it was taken,

however, the problem will persist after it isgrafted onto the necromancer. Organs can bereplaced as well, but he necromancer cannotdo surgery on himself. The organ willchange in a few minutes if it works and willhave the same DNA like the limb, also, ifthere was a problem with the old organ butnot the new organ then the organ will befine. If there is a problem with the neworgan it will still be there after the grafting. The organ will be the same DNA, but in thesame condition as it was before the graft. Effectively the necromancer can becomeimmortal with this power.

In order to do this, the necromancermust attach the limb, or have the organ placein the proper place. After that, the playerrolls the Magic skill of the necromancer witha difficulty level of Difficult. In gthe case oforgans, it does not matter if the Medical skillfails for the surgery fails and thenecromancer dies as long as the Magic skillsucceeds he will return to life, but thenecromancer must be alive when thereplacement starts.

Zombie body parts can be used, if thezombie’s brain has been destroyed or thelimb has been subdued long enough for theprocess to work. If a limb of a zombie lordis used then it will cause infection (50%chance of an immediate infection, otherwisethe infection is dormant). This will happenwhether the zombie lord is still animated orhad his brains destroyed.

13) SpellsNecromancers get +1 Magic skill and

can learn the same spells as summoners.

14) Zombie WalkBecause of the necromancer’s

connection to death zombies seenecromancers as undead. As long as anecromancer does not attack a zombie,zombies will leave him alone. If a

necromancer attacks a zombie and getsaway, the zombies will not remember him,so it is not a case of attack a zombie and losethis bonus.

Necromancer's Opinion of Other Cursed

Shamans - Ironic that followers of a deadreligion find us that speak to the dead sorepulsive. They think we are corruptors ofthe natural order. They should look around,humanity has forsaken the natural order forconvenience, and now simply mindedactivists turn against the natural order sayingit is wrong to follow the natural food chainbecause their food has a cute face. Hell, weare more in touch with the natural order ofthings than most of humanity. We knowabout the cycle of life, death, and rebirthcycle, we just cheat a bit, that’s all.

Mystics - They keep spewing hippy garbage. They say our kind is corrupt or somegarbage. They are almost as bad as theshamans, but are a little less judgmental atleast.

Psychics - I fail to see the point. Sure theyhave a few cool tricks, but I can break the

barrier between life and death. I don't knowwhy they think they are so superior to me.

Sorcerers - You hide in dark cornerslooking up ancient text trying so hard tounlock the answers we were given a key to. All your hard work seems so pointless whenyou look at up. That is probably why youenvy us so much and trick those blastedblessed after us.

Summoner - They are our kin. They haveso much potential, if only they could doeverything we could do. Just imagine thepossibilities. *Shutters* Maybe that wouldnot be such a good thing.

Blessed - Wretched fools. They call ourminions abominations. They are the first tograb the pitchforks and torches, coming tostorm the castle. Don't most of themworship a guy who risen from the grave? And this is the thanks we get? Ingrates, allof them.

Changelings - Otherworldly, beautiful,deadly. Makes me wonder if I were prettierif I would get acceptance so easily.

Changes to Magic

Magic has changed since the deadhave started to ride up against the living. Many rules of many common spells havechanged, some lost spells have found theirway back into regular circulation.

Crashing the Party

Zombies seem to be attracted toplaces of high magical energy. When thereare no more victims for the zombies to infect

they will usually find their way to the closestplace with a high amount of ambientmagical energy. This includes ley lines,nexus points, haunted buildings, magicallairs. Zombies seem to be able to sensethese places from dozens to hundreds ofkilometres away.

It is unknown how the zombies cansense the power or why they should beattracted to it. Some theories that they arelooking for these places so their remainingsouls left in their bodies and cross over to

the other side. Some believe that magic andlife energy is the same thing and the walkingdead hunger for this energy. Whatever thereason, many of the Cursed have learned thatin order to avoid zombies while travelling, itis best to pay attention to their magicalsenses and try to avoid areas with a lot ofmagical energy.

The rules for using the Cursed bonusto sense magical energy for finding placeswith large amounts of energy is that whenthey start to sense a larger than normalamount of magical energy they must take aturn to concentrate only on the magicalenergy (Concentration check with thedifficulty level of Challenging). This willgive the character a general idea of thedirection the power is coming from(compass directions like east or south west),not distance or what the source of power is.

That is Not My Name Anymore

Zombies do not have true namesanymore, or, mor precisely, they all have thesame name after they are transformed. Thename is spread out and weakened. Thepower of the true name can not control azombie or zombie lord, but it can strengthenmagic used against them... a little. In orderto use the power of a true name against azombie the mage must have the full name ofthe zombie hoard, and it will only give a +3against zombies. Zombie lords have a littlebit more anonymity than the averagezombie. A piece of their true name isunique to that zombie lord. The whole truename is needed to effect a zombie lord sothat unique part is needed. A full true namefor a zombie lord give +5 for magic usedagainst (or on) the zombie lord.

Since zombies have no identity tospeak of, even the zombie lords seethemselves as part of the mass horde ratherthan an individual, magic that usually

require either a name or a piece of he subjectwill not work with a name for zombies. Neither the name the zombie may have usedor the true name of the zombie will allowthese magics to work on the zombie orzombie lord. A piece of the zombie fromeither before or after he became a zombiewill work for these spells.

Crowd Control

Zombies can not be controlled byany means other than a zombie lord. Azombie lord can not be controlled. Nomagics or psychic powers, or scientificmeans has been found to control thezombies or zombie lords. Not even thepower of true names can be used againstthem. No one knows why this is. Someassume it is because the true name wasspread to thin to be effective anymore.

Death, Rebirth, and Magic

When something dies it will usuallydraw as much magic as possible from anarea to help the soul cross over to the otherside. This will usually cause the area, andanyone or anything within the area, to bedepleted of much of their magic for a fewhours. This is not so when zombies arecreated. When a person dies and becomes azombie it is like a burst of magic. Thesensation is noticeable to The Cursed, butnot recognisable unless they use identify.

If enough people are turned intozombies in a short enough time in the samearea than the area will become highlymagical for a time and give off bonuses tocast spells, and possibly have a randommagical effect go off. If ten or more peopledie and become zombies within 10 metres(30 feet) of each other within an hour ofeach other that area will gain a +3 forcasting spells plus a +1 for every two other

people who changed over the ten. Thisbonus will last for one hour plus one hourfor every two people changed over the tenneeded for the bonus.

Random magical effects are commonwhen a large group is caught by zombies. So much magical energy being released atonce is dangerous, especially since no oneseems to be controlling it. There is a 25%chance plus 5% per every +1 bonus to magiccaused by the transformation into a zombieof a random magical effect taking place. GM can chose what happens or he can rollrandomly from the chart in the GM book.

Changed Magic

*note* Unless otherwise stated, the use ofthe word zombie in this section refers tozombies and zombie lords create through theinfection.

Many spells work differently onzombies than they do other targets. Not onlythat, but the spells that could not be used infront of mundane witnesses can now be castin front of anyone and work. There are alsoa few spells that were lost that have comeback since the rise of the walking dead. Here are the general changes (and in somecases specific spell changes) that haveoccurred since the zombie invasion.

As noted above, zombies can not becontrolled and the power of their nameshave all but disappeared. Not only this butno spell or power that controls luck cantarget them. They can neither have theirluck increased or decreased. Just so it isnoted, the zombie spell will not work on azombie, nor can a zombie created by thespell be turned into a zombie by theinfection.

The rituals Cleansing the Spirit willdrive zombies off just like the Banish spelland Banish the Corrupt will damage a

zombie like it would a spirit. Reverse theClock spell does not work on zombies andClone spell using part of a zombie will onlycreate a dead body, not a zombie. A soulcan not be put into a zombie using TransferSoul spell. Undo spell will cause one pointof damage plus one point of damage perdegree of success to a zombies, but onlyworks on one zombie at a time.

Any healing spell or power used on azombie will repair damage done to azombie, just like any spell or power that willrepair inanimate objects. Cancer will notgrow in a dead body. The use of Telepathyand mind reading powers or spells on azombie will drive the caster or user of thepower mad or unconscious for 2D20 hours. When the power user or caster recovers hewill only remember cold, hungry, empty,death.

Other Changes to Magic

After the dead began to rise upagainst the living and the mystical worldstood to protect humanity magic changed. Itbecame more accepted. This changed a lotof things, how some spells work changed,some things became easier. Some of the lostmagic came back into common use.

Spells to could not work in mundaneview such as Humanculus and Teleportstarted to work in front of normal humans. Many have a theory on this. Some think it isbecause magic feels it no longer needs tohide from the rest of the world. Othersbelieve that human is now more excepting ofmagic so the magic is becoming stronger. Still others say that it is because the magesthemselves have more faith in their powersand that is giving them the faith to push themagic farther.

The shaman ritual Show the Way hasbecome easier to perform (now difficultylevel Average) and the ritual Crossing Over

has become easier to use when going to thelow road (difficulty level Challenging),whereas, the difficulty of going to the highroad has become much more difficult(difficulty level of Nigh Impossible). Theritual See Across the Veil has becomeDifficulty level Challenging. It is difficultfor a shaman who knows the ritual Know theHour not to be able to see if something ispast its prime (difficulty level of Easy). Theshamans say this s because the materialworld is moving farther from the naturalworld of the spirits and closer to death as theinfection spreads. They may be right

The spell Heal has become easier touse (difficulty level of Average). Most areconfused about why this spell has become somuch easier to use, but some believe it is themagic’s way of bringing back a balance. There is a downside to the new ease of thisspell. There is now a 7% chance per pointof damage healed that this spell will give thetarget cancer.

The spell Necromancy and the powerPsychopomp are both now one degree easierto cast. This is probably due to all the deathcaused be the zombie horde, or it could bebecause of the unnatural stat of the world. Whatever the case, it is easier to deal withthe dead. The problem is that to do so is likebroadcasting to the zombie horde where youare. If there is a zombie within a kilometre (+1 kilometre per degree of success in thespell or power) it can sense the power beingused.

WardsCities have been warding themselves

against the zombie horde since the wizardshave come out of hiding. Most cities havelarge walls four to five times taller than aman and completely solid. When all portalsthrough the wall (doors, cracks, peep holes,ect) are warded the wall is sealed off frommagical creatures, but the top is left

unguarded. People can still teleport in andout and it is possible for mysticals to go overthe wall. This is not usually a problem sincemost zombies cannot get over the wall orteleport and the walls are mostly made toprotect against zombies.

It is possible to ward the whole cityif there is either a dome on the wall aroundthe city or the top edge of the wall iswarded. The top can be warded, but anyopening larger than forty square metres(forty square yards) increases the difficultylevel of the Ward spell by one and one extradifficulty level (or +5 needed) for every fortysquare metres (forty square yards) abovethat. It often becomes simply to difficultand not particularly advantageous to wardthe tops of the walls of a city.

Learning In the New World

It has become more difficult to learnspells, rituals, and psychic powers now thathumanity is cramped into such small spaces. It is now one difficulty level higher to learnspells, rituals, or psychic powers then is tocast them.

Lost and Found

The Cursed have seen many changessince the zombie horde started to walk theearth. They no longer need to hide in theshadows, the spells that once needed to behidden from the world to work can be donein plain view of anyone, many have foundexpectance in the hearts and eyes of themundane populace. Many things havechange in the world of the Cursed, but thebiggest may be the return of many of the lostmagic. Here is a list of the lost spells thathave made their way back into common use. Oddly, psychic powers seem unchanged.

Shaman Rituals

Once, before the dead had risenagainst the living, the spirits taught theseprayers and rituals to only the most trustedshamans. The spirits, for their ownunknowable reasons, have since started toteach these rites and rituals to more andmore shamans.

Prayer of Healing (Challenging)This rite was once one of the most

common and widely used ritual of theshaman. This was back when humanity wasa hunting and gathering race. Over thecenturies this ritual has been taught to fewerand fewer shamans until scarcely a handfularound the world knew how to perform thisrite. That is until the hordes of the walkingdead rose up. Perhaps the need for healingand self-sacrifice is so great the spirits feel itis time again for their emissaries to help takeaway the pain and suffering of the world. Perhaps there has been to much death andthe spirits see this as a way to balance thescales. The ways of the spirits are ratheralien to the human mind and the shamansmay never know the real reason this rite asfound its way back into common teachingsfrom the spirits.

With this ritual the shaman can takedamage from a target, while suffering someof it himself. This ritual heals one point ofdamage on a successful casting plus it healsone point of damage for every degree ofsuccess. The shaman receives 1/3 thedamage healed to the target (round up, theshaman always takes at least one point ofdamage).

Tongues of the World (Challenging)Shamans are meant to be a means of

communication between the spirit world andthe physical world. This means that theshaman must be able to communicate withthe people around him, and this ritual allowsthe shaman to communicate with anyone.

When the ritual is finished the Shaman canunderstand all languages he hears andeveryone who hears him understands thelanguage he is speaking. This ritual does noteffect the shamans ability (or more precisely,inability) to read languages.

Meeting at the Crossroads (Average)This ritual was developed by voodoo

priests. This spell is similar to theSummoning spell except rather than forcinga mystical creature to go to the caster, itsimply offers a polite invitation. This ritualis cast throughout the day or evening beforethe meeting. The target knows that he isbeing called and can decide whether or notto go, the shaman will know if the creatureaccepts.

If the target accepts the ritual the twowill meet at a specific crossroads the shamanchooses. The spell will bring the target, butthe shaman must find his own way there. The meeting starts at true midnight (the timeexactly between dusk and dawn). Duringthe meeting the Shaman and the target cannot harm either, but anyone else who comesto the meeting is fair game for either side. Once the meeting is over the target goesback to where he came from beforehand.

Magic Spells

Many of these spells had been lostfor years, with only a handful here and therekeeping their secrets alive. Others were newspells that few knew before the rise of thezombie horde. Some were seen as necessaryto spread after the rise of the zombie horde,others just surfaced again with little to noapparent aid from anyone (which made afew of the people who could actual take thetime to notice such things nervous). Whatever the case, these spells have becomecommon either again or for the first time.

Alarm (Challenging)*note* If used with Enchant Object spell,

the object will be the centre of thespells radius while it is active.This spell has gain a great amount of

popularity since the start of the infection. Once the magical community came forwardand the settlements started springing upmages have been spreading this spell likewildfire. Soon anyone willing and able touse this spell knew it, the magic seemed tobe floating in the air. This spell is usuallyused to guard access points in a settlementor campgrounds of those who have to go outinto infected territory.

While this spell is in effect, the magecan tell if the area being protected by thespell is being disturbed. The spell protectsan area about 20 feet by 20 feet by 20 feetplus an extra 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet forevery degree of success. This spell lasts forone hour plus one hour per degree ofsuccess. The mage must be in the area he iscasting the Alarm spell on.

Battle Magic (Challenging)This is magic created specifically for

fighting. There are five types of battlemagic, each must be learned separately. Each type looks slightly different and havedifferent side effects, but all work basicallythe same way. The mage calls up the primalessence of the element of the type of battlemagic he is using. A ball of said elementforms floating above the mages hand. Themage then throws the tiny, hard ball sizedball at the target (Projectile, Thrown isalways used for this). The damage is thencalculated. Damage is calculated normally,the forces that forms the ball of the elementcreates a seal that deals damage when thetarget is struck then releases the element. Ifthe ball misses the target, then it hitssomething close by, determined by the GMwhich becomes the target for the purpose of

the battle magic description. Damage iscalculated normally, each different type ofbattle magic has a different weapon damagerating. Each type of battle magic also has adifferent effect. The five types are acid,electricity, fire, water, wind.

The acid battle magic creates an orbof yellow or green liquid which is thrown atthe target. It does a base damage of 2 points. When the acid strikes the target, it willsplash on any surrounding objects orcreatures (creatures and objects able tododge get a dodge roll against the roll theattacker made against the target), for abouttwo metres (about five to six feet) plus abouttwo metres (about five to six feet) per degreeof success on the attack roll. The acid willcontinue to do 2 points of damage plus 1point of damage per degree of success on thebattle magic roll for the next 3 turns plus 1turn per degree of success of the battlemagic spell, unless washed off.

The electrical battle magic looks likeone of those electric orbs that will make apersons hair stand on end when it is touched. In fact, when summoning this battle magicthe caster’s hair will stand on end. It does abase of 3 points of damage. When theelectricity strikes the target, the target mustmake a Health check (if the target issusceptible to electrical damage) of ½Health stat plus D20 roll plus any applicablybonus verus being stunned at a difficultylevel of Average. The target gets a -2 to thisroll for every degree of success made on thebattle magic roll. If the target passes,nothing happens, if the target fails, he isincapacitated for 2 rounds plus one 1 roundfor every degree of failure the Health checkwas failed by. While incapacitated, thetarget falls to the ground and can not doanything, except breath (unless this ishindered in some way). This electricity ismagical and can not be grounded.

The fire battle magic creates an orb

of red fire which is thrown at the target. Itdoes a base of 3 points of damage. Whenthe fire strikes the target, it will ignite anyflammable material and heat up any metal. The damage from the metal heating up is 1point for 4 turns plus one turn per degree ofsuccess of the battle magic, or until themetal is cast aside. The damage of theflammable material catching fire is the sameas a torch, 2 points of damage per turn ofexposure.

The water battle magic looks likeand orb of water. It does a base of 2 pointsof damage. When the water strikes thetarget, everything within a metre (aboutthree feet) plus one metre (about three feet)per degree of success, is soaked. If thetarget is struck from the front, he must makea Health check, half Health stat plus D20roll, with a -2 for every degree of success onthe battle magic spell. If the roll was passedthen nothing happened, if the roll failed,then the character gets 2 points of damage. If the character failed the first roll, on hisnext turn he makes the roll again. If hepasses he stops choking, if he fails, he getsanother 2 points of damage and can not doanything for the turn. The rolls continueuntil either the roll is passed or the characterchokes to death.

The wind battle magic looks like acloud trapped in an orb. It does a base of 2points of damage. When the wind strikesthe target, it will possibly knock everythingover within about a metre and a half (aboutfive feet) plus about a metre and a half(about five feet) per degree of success in thebattle magic spell. Everything within rangegets a Body check which is ½ Body stat plusD20 roll plus applicable bonuses with adifficulty level of Average. There is a -2 tothe roll for every degree of success in thebattle magic. If the roll is passed thennothing really happens (other than thatwhich made the roll had to brace itself

against the wind), but if it fails thenwhatever failed the roll is knocked proneand must spend his next turn picking itselfup (if he can).

Trap (Challenging)This spell has become almost as

popular as the Alarm spell. It will often gohand in hand to protect certain areas fromuninvited guests.

This spell causes an explosion ofmagical energy that will harm any one whodoes an action that meets a certain condition. The spell does one point of damage plus onepoint of damage per degree of success. Thetrap can be set to go off if someone sits in aspecific seat, opens a specific book, opens aspecific door, any condition like that willwork for a condition of the spell. The traplasts until the mage cancels the spell with asuccessful Concentration check, the trap istriggered, or the trap is undone with theUndo spell. If the trap is set to go off whensomeone tries to cast Undo on it then theTrap spell goes off first. The mage mustalso set a condition to get around the trap. Getting around the trap in this way does notnullify the trap.

Gate (Varies)*note* Summoners can cast this spell. To use this spell with Enchant Objectspell mystic writ at both portals is required. The portal remain a gate as long asthe mystic writ remains intake, but will onlystay open for the duration of thespell per activation.

This spell creates a link between twoportals. Portals, for the use of this spell, isany opening such as a door frame, a windowframe, two crossing trees, a cave entrance, ahole in the wall large enough to crawlthrough, etc. The link allows anyone whowalks through one of the portals in the rightdirection to exit through the other portal (not

a conscious decision). The link lasts for oneminute plus one minute per degree ofsuccess.

The difficulty level of this spelldepends on the familiarity of the mage withthe location of the other portal. If the otherportal is in an area the mage has the Lairspell in effect then the difficulty level for thespell is Easy. If the mage is very familiarwith the location of the other portal then thedifficulty level is Average. If the mage hasonly been to the location of the other portal ahandful of times then the difficulty level ofthe spell is Challenging. If the mage hasonly seen the location of the other portal inpictures then the difficulty level of the spellis Hard.

This spell takes fifteen seconds tocast and can not be shortened. The magemust be touching the first portal for it towork. This spell will not work if either ofthe portals are blocked, by say a door, or awindow, or a person standing in it, at thetime of the casting.

Null Zone (Challenging)This spell creates a no magic zone

with a 3 and a 1/3 metres (10 foot) radiusplus 2 metres (6 feet) per degree of success. The no magic zone lasts one month plus onemonth per degree of success, and with fiveor more degrees of success the no magiczone is permanent. Active magical itemsturn off when entering a no magic zone andno magic item can be turned on in the zone. Magical items will work normally once theyleave the zone. Spells that can not beundone with the Undo spell will not beeffected by the no magic zone except forUnaging. While in the no magic zone, anycreature under the effect of the Unagingspell will age normally, but will stop agingoutside the zone.

Zombies will generally avoid theseno magic areas, unless ordered to by zombie

lords.

Walk in the park (Challenging)This spell has been developed in the

ast year or so. It allows the caster to walkamong the zombies as if he were one of theundead. Normal zombies will ignore himunless he attacks the zombie first. ZombieLords see the caster as an undead, but no afellow zombie.

New Magical Items for Dealing

with the Dead

All Terrain Vehicle ($16000 - $22000,$16000 base plus $1000 for each point ofarmour on the body and tires)

While there may be a few settlementsthat humanity are still held up in nature hastaken back much of the land. There are fewcared for roads and precious little access topetrol. These All Terrain Vehicles areredesigned Jeeps, ATVs, Motorcycles, andother light weight and rugged vehicles whichare supped up with some magic. First off,since fuel is so hard to come by, the gastanks are enchanted to produce a magical,completely clean burning fuel that will neverrun out. Secondly, the tires are enchanted tobe massively resistant to damage. The tireswill never accidentally blow, it will takerunning over spikes at least six inches thickforced to stick straight up or being shot out(effectively Armour spell 3 to 5) to takethem out. The tires are also enchanted togrip any surface at an angle of 45 degrees orless and never loss traction. Lastly, the bodyis enhanced with Armour spell between 1with 5 extra hit points to 5 with 25 extra hitpoints (in cases where the body of thevehicle does not cover the driver orpassengers the armour will surround them aswell).

These All Terrain Vehicles are not

all that common. They can be purchased atthe Goblin Market, but it is usually sold to atown for important missions. Fewindividuals own one themselves. Mosttowns will spend an extra $1000 worth oftrade goods to get the anti theft enchantmenton the vehicle. What this does is makes surethat who ever takes the vehicle must swearan oath to return the vehicle is possible andreplace is if not. If someone tries to take thevehicle without swearing the oath the enginewill not start and the person can not get outof the vehicle until someone in authority letshim out. This is done through the trap andBind to Word spells.

Comm Phones ($200)Phone, normally cell phones,

enchanted to communicate with each other. They are enchanted with the Communespell. They have the semi-intelligencevariation to give them a name so they can becalled with the spell, Always Active andusually Works Only On variation so thatthey can only call other phones. Mystic writis scratched into the buttons so that the userdials the name of the phone they want toconnect with. The phone will make a noise(new ring tones are programmable) and therewill be a button to answer and end calls. Unless the phone enters a null magic zonecalls will never drop, signal strength willnever be low, and yes, I can hear you now.

Doomsday Phonebook ($200)The Doomsday Phonebook gets its

name from the Doomsday book of MedievalEngland. Where the Medieval book had allrelevant information of those living inEngland, the phonebook keeps track of thenames of the Comm Phones and those whoown the phone. When a Comm Phone iscreated, it will usually be registered with aman in the Goblin Market. The man isknown only as the Surveyor. Every mystical

phone registered is written in his ledger andmagically entered into every DoomsdayPhonebook. They will be listed by theowner’s name, the phone’s name, and, if theowner wishes, the owners occupation.

The Doomsday Phonebook lookslike a normal phonebook about 100 pagesthick. It is a Concentration check ofAverage (just before opening the book) tofind the name of someone you know andConcentration check of Challenging to findthe name of someone you never met. It is aConcentration check of Difficult to find aperson of a certain occupation closest to theuser (and the person will only be found if helisted his occupation).

Never Ending Gas Tank ($200)Most individuals can not get the full

All Terrain Vehicle, but most can get an old,beat up Vehicle and a Never Ending GasTank. The tank creates a completely cleanburning magical fuel that never runs out. This means that a vehicle can runindefinitely on it, and no pollutants arecreated.

Prayer Wards ($400)Most of these items are Muslim

religious symbols. When activated(Concentration check of Challenging), theywill allow the bearer of the item to walkthrough the zombie horde unnoticed (exceptby zombie lords who see them as undead butnot zombies). What makes these itemsunusual is that when active, the bearer canbestow the power on others for a day or untilthe bearer feels like cancelling the effect(Concentration check of Challenging) andcan have several people under the effect andhe can pick and choose who he cancels theeffect for.

Self-Repairing Engine ($1500)These engines are enchanted with the

Better Usage variation and a lost variationFaster Repairs. Basically the engine alwaysworks at peek performance without worry ofover heating or something breaking down.

Zombie Lord Detectors ($100,000)These goggles were created in a lab

that was all but destroyed by a zombieinvasion. Some of the creators managed toescape with the secret to creating these

goggles. They have set up shop in theGoblin Market and have some heavy dutybody guards to protect them. No one elsehave been able to re-create these goggles.

When wearing the Zombie LordDetectors, the wearer sees everythingnormally, unless there is a zombie lord near. Zombie lords appear to glow a sickly greenwhen seen through the goggles.

Changes to Bonuses and Penalties

Monetary Bonuses and PenaltiesSince the rise of the zombies and the

collapse and rebuilding of society, moneyhas become worthless. Trade goods are usedinstead of a common currency and the bartersystem has risen anew. All the monetarybonuses and penalties no longer give thecharacter continuous income, but thecharacter does get to start with more thanothers.

A suggestion for starting money. When making a character, if he is a citizenof a city, his starting money is the same andprices can be like today to show what hemanaged to collect or salvage from the oldcities. Anything the character starts withshould be bought with starting money, nomater how the character got it in his backstory. Any money not spent at charactercreation is considered as tradable goods.

BonusesHappy Home Owner (1 point)

This bonus no longer gives moremoney, but it does give the character moreaccess to room for experimenting andlearning magic. Since the zombie uprisingpeople mostly live in small apartments inbuildings split up more than they shouldhave been to accommodate a lot of survivorsin such small area. This bonus gives thecharacter a house that they own themselves.

They have room for magical experimentingand to hold a library, if they have access toone. Without this bonus, or the propermagical or technological device, thecharacter can not have the Library or Lab(new) bonus.

Rich (1 point)Either you hoarded things before the

zombie apocalypse or you were really goodat gathering afterwards. Either way,multiply starting money by ten percent. Thisbonus only effects your character atcharacter creation. This bonus cannot betaken with Well Off, Flat Broke, orStruggling.

Well Off (1 point)You have more than a lot of people

since the zombies came. Multiply yourcharacter’s starting money by five. Thisbonus only effects your character atcharacter creation. This bonus cannot betaken with Rich, Flat Broke, or Struggling.

PenaltiesFlat Broke (2 points)

The zombie apocalypse hit yourwallet as hard as it hit society. Yourcharacter losses half his starting money. This penalty only effects your character atcharacter creation. This penalty cannot be

taken with Rich, Well Off, or Struggling.

Struggling (1 point)You were not good at collecting

what was needed to survive the zombiehorde. Your character loses ten percent ofhis starting money. This penalty only effectsyour character at character creation. Thispenalty cannot be taken with Rich, Well Off,or Flat Broke.

Other Changed BonusesParents Know - This is no longer a bonus. Everyone’s parents know or are dead.

Library - This bonus now requires that thecharacter either have the bonus Happy HomeOwner, Lab, or some sort of magical ortechnological device like a magical Book ofLibrary or e-book with a lot of storage space. The living has much less space than they use

to, which means less space to store books.

New BonusLab (1 point)

This bonus gives the character aplace to study, experiment, and learn newskills and spells (or psychic powers, orrituals). Because of lack of space it is now adifficulty level higher to learn spells(psychic powers, or rituals). With thisbonus, it is the same difficulty level to learnspells as it is to cast them.

Trick Shot (2 points)Your character either was an expert

shot or became one quickly since the zombieapocalypse. The penalty for hitting asmaller target is halved (round down) foryour character.

Chapter 3The GM’s Section

This chapter will contain theinformation that GM’s will need to know. Itwill include the stats for Zombies andzombie lords, what really caused the zombieoutbreak, and additional (all be it very basic)information the players should not be awareof. The background information is kept to aminimum so that the GM can fiddle with thesetting as much as they wish. If any of thebackground, either known to the players ornot, does not fit with the zombie apocalypsegame you wish to run, then change it (but ifyou are changing known details, let yourplayers know). The most important thing

about this chapter is that This is for theGM’s eyes only!!!

What Really Caused theZombie Apocalypse

While the most popular theorieswere discussed in chapter 2 not just one ofthem was correct. The true cause of theinfection is much stranger and moreconvoluted. It involves many strange andunconnected events and collisions of fate.

It started in the late nineties with aTaliban sect working on a secret weapon touse against the infidels that stood in theirway. This sect was working on a formula tocreate super soldiers that would feel no painor fear and would do any and all that wasordered of them. They were also to be ableto work on their own without instruction.

American forces heard about this andfound the base that this sect was working outof. They managed to take out the Talibanforces and obtain the research. What theydid not know was that was the plan allalong. The formula was an alteration of the

Zombie spell. It would leave the subjectmasterless and hungry. The subject wouldbe able to spread the formula through hisbite after undergoing the treatment. It wasmeant for the Americans to find and bringhome. They were to spread it and then therest of the world would be forced to wipeNorth America from the map.

What the Taliban did not know wasthat the Americans had just as good mysticsand sorcerers working from them as theTaliban had. They noticed the flaw in theformula right away. They worked on theformula for month, but in the end seen it wasuseless. It sat in databases in heavilyencrypted computer mainframes that no onewas even suppose to know existed, let alongsuppose to be unhackable, forgotten.

But somehow, in the Summer of2011, someone found out about thedatabases. A hacker and self proclaimedpolitical activist and anarchist known asZork learned about the databases. He notonly was able to hack into the system, butleft such a mess that no one could figure outwhat he took.

Zork had a message board that wasinvitation only. You had to know where tolook and how to get in after you found it oryou could not get to it. There were hackersfrom all over the world on the site. Anarchists and self proclaimed politicalactivist all wanting to bring down the systemfrom the comforts of their computer chairs. Zork used his message board to organizeacts of civil and criminate acts of computerhacking and minor actual stunts all over theworld through the members of the board. InOctober of 2012 he started to post about anew plan he had.

He talked about a formula for a new

hallucinogen he found in the hard driveshidden by the American government. Hewas planning on spiking the water supply allover the world on December 21 2012. Thiswas to be the big changing of the world theMayans predicted. On the morning ofDecember 21, 2012 he released the formulafor the masterless zombie spell and had hisfollowers mix it and spike the water suppliesof their home towns. No one knows if heknew what he was giving his followers. Some think he did not believe it wasdangerous, some think he may have got theformulas wrong, and some who know of this(which there may only be a dozen or so)believe that he wanted to bring about the endof the world. No one even knows who Zorkis, he could be human, alien, spirit, demon,or something much worse.

Zork Who?

Who is Zork? Why is he trying tokick off the apocalypse? How did he hackan unhackable computer system not evenconnected to the outside world? These aretricky questions, and the answer is he is ason of a trickster. Zork is one of Ananisi’ssons. Throughout the years Ananisi has hadmany children, but Zork has always been abit of a problem.

Zork had always like stories, feltsafest inside a tale. He loved to hear them,tell them, dream them, live them. WhenZork found out his father was the lord ofstories he felt it was his rightful heritage,and wanted that power now. He triedseveral times to take his father’s domain andpower, but every time he got close his fatherwould turn the tables on him, but Zork neverstopped trying (his father was so proud).

Eventually, Zork’s obsession turnedfrom ruling over stories and tales to endingthem all, permanently. He realized that allstories must come to an end, and if he could

not control the story he would control theend. But he could not just end it, he mustend it in style.

Zork, born part human and watchinghumanity for most of his life, felt that theyhad the best stories. He decided that theywould write their own ending and he wouldsend it forth. The common ending for theworld seemed to be zombies and this struckZork as a good a way to end the story as any.

He gave the idea of the super soldierplot to the Taliban. He helped see to it thatthe US military played their part. He learnedwhat the US military did with this secret andstole it from them. He set up a followingonline and seen to it that they would followhis wishes faithfully. Zork orchestrated thewhole ordeal (except for the rise of thezombie lords, that was a pleasant surprise). Once more, his father is proud.

Background for the GM

As stated before, the zombieapocalypse was started by a half-human,half-spirit son of Anansi named Zork. Hehelped the Taliban sorcerers develop thezombie formula, he helped them plan ongetting the Americans to “stumble across it”,and he stole it from the Americans and gaveit to his followers on the internet.

Where Have All the Spiders

Gone?

Not long after the infection started,Zork used a combination of magic ritualsand sabotage on various telecommunicationrelay points and disconnected the spiritrealm of the world wide web from themortal plane. The world wide web wasdevastated. All the intersections where acomputer connected to the web wassuddenly severed. The realm was nearly

destroyed. It took all the spider spiritsacross the spirit realm, Anansi included,nearly everything they had to hold ittogether. The realm, and its occupants, wereseverely weakened.

The spiders closed off the web to theoutside world and have regrouped. Everyspider was called back to the web and nonehas left since they were all called back. Spider shamans were freed of theirpermanent taboo and left without a totemspirit. They retained all their powers, butwere left without aid. Many had maid dealswith other spirits to have them be theshaman’s new totem spirit, were othersimply went their own way. Five yearsafterwards (the time frame of the game) theweb has been rebuilt and the spiders haverecuperated enough to venture out into therest of reality again. Some of the loneshamans took back the spider spirit as theirtotem spirit and re-accepted the taboo, otherremained untethered.

Enter the Zombie Lords

The first of the zombie lords evolvedin November of 2013. It is unknown wherethe very first zombie lord evolved, but theyall seemed to have evolved separately, theformula was mutating slightly. Not longafter that, however, several zombie lordsappeared. They did not remember who theywere but could still think and reasonrelatively well. Many rememberedinformation from when they were alive, ifnot personal data. Eventually, some zombielords with knowledge of magic re-animated,they were able to use the zombie horde tobring down the Wards protecting the cities. Since the Wards held so well, and the citiesgrew to depend on them rather than havingpeople watch the gates, the first few citiesthat were taken out fell without even onezombie falling because the citizen were so

shocked.

Merlin’s Secret

Merlin loved the green gem that isthe British Isle since before man walked theland. He had helped rule it and protect it fora time with the help of his young ward,Arthur Pendragon. He helped raise andeducate the boy in the way of justice andvalour. When Arthur was slain Merlin losthis connection to this world and was forcedto leave it.

Merlin is no mortal mage, he is amember of the Foromrian fey. He wascursed by a fellow Formrian that he cannotwalk the lands of the British Isle unless hehas first taken a noble human under histutelage and willingly teaches him the waysof justice, honour, and chivalry and togetheruphold these virtues and lead the rest of thepeople in these ways. And he can only offersuch teachings and assistance during a timeof great need. Merlin seen the zombieplague as his chance to once again return tothe land he loved.

Evan Alistair was just a young manwho Merlin could see great potential in. Merlin could see he had the strength ofcharacter needed to lead his people in thenoble manner he needed to be free to returnto earth, with the right guidance. EvanAlistair would be the heir of Arthur, hewould inherit Arthur’s castle, Arthur’s title,Arthur’s sword, and Arthur’s legacy.

The Taliban Connection

The first thing the Taliban tried to dowhen creating the zombie formula was try tofind a way for the zombies to be controlled. They had no success at this, however, theydid find a way to blind the zombies to theirpresence. They were able to make items thatcould not only hide the user, but could grant

this seeming invisibility to other targets for aday, or until the user decided to cancel it. Several of these items were made before theAmerican soldiers raided the cell so theTaliban would be ready for the zombieplague. There were none of these items inthe cell the Americans raided, nor did any ofthe Taliban in that cell know about theitems.

It did not take long after theinfections started for the Taliban officials torecognise the plague for what it was. Theitems were distributed among the top mostpeople of the Taliban and instructions weregiven on how to use them. As the deadstarted to rise and attack the living,transforming victim into monster, theTaliban was there to give aid to those whowould faithfully follow them.

The items made the user and thosethe user granted to power to appear to beundead to the zombie horde. The zombieswere unable to differentiate between azombie and any other type of undead, so thisgranted the Taliban a great weapon to useagainst their enemies. That is, until thezombie lords evolved. The zombie lordsstill seen the users of these items as undead,but knew the users were not zombies. Theywere a threat, all be it a dormant one, to thezombie horde, so the zombie lords watchedand waited for the time to strike. When itcame, the Taliban was caught completelyunaware. Since the Taliban and itsfollowers were living in amongst thewalking dead the casualties were incrediblyhigh when the zombies finally attackedthem. They were almost completelydecimated.

Israel, the Land of Milk and

Honey

When the zombie plague struckIsrael was struck as well. It would have

been over run by zombies just like any otherplace on earth had it not been for one of theTuatha Dé Danann that took an interest inthe Hebrew people. He had been watchingthem for centuries, watching their trial andtribulations, their victories, their sorrowsand their strength. He watched themstruggle and persist through the toughest andmost unimaginably horrid circumstances andcome out stronger for it.

He, Tandagu, had watched themsuffer and die for not reason other than theywere easy targets, but when the dead startedto rise and would threaten the very existenceof these noble people he finally said no. With great will be burned the plague fromthe land of Israel. He willed the land toflourish and told the people he had watchedfor so long that they would be safe.

He told them that if they followedthe path they have always followed theywould be protected. He told them to followtheir holly men and wise men and theywould be safe. He was amazed and proudwhen the people of Israel opened their doorand offered the safety guaranteed to them toanyone willing to keep Israel strong. Heused a great amount of his power to stretchthe boarder of his protection to helpaccommodate the growth of the population. Tandagu communes with the rabbis and thekabbalist through dreams and signs to showthat he is still there helping.

Australia

The plague did not hit Australia orNew Guinea, not because Zork did not havepeople there, but because Australia is a landof old gods, old magic, and old dreams. Australia is a land of power and magic. Beings so old and so powerful that to callthem true gods is not far off have been there,sleeping, watching, waiting. They see manything; now, then and to come. They seen the

coming of the hungry dead and did not wish that disease to pollute their land.

What is the Infection

What is the infection? Well, the bestanswer to that is a bastardisation of thezombie spell. The formula for the spell hasbeen changed just enough that the walkingdead created by this spell serves no mastersave for the hunger for human flesh.

When the victim of the spell changesto one of the walking dead, the infection, theformula seems to alter the saliva glands ofthe victim to produce more of the formulaand infect more. The hunger for human, andanything that is close to humans (such as theCursed) seems to be meant to keep theinfection spreading. The walking dead seemto have no desire for dead (or undead) fleshand seem to somehow tell the difference onsight.

The walking dead are effected byspells such as Ward or Summoning. Commune is only useful for Zombie Lords. The walking dead are immune to any sort ofmystical compulsion and can not becontrolled by anything other than a ZombieLord.

Once Bitten

Many people think that when you arebitten you become a zombie, no ifs, and, orbuts about it. This is not true, and has leadto many people being killed for no goodreason. The truth is that the infection isspread through saliva, but it is not onehundred percent contagious. First off, thecursed are almost immune to the infection ofthe normal zombies, as are all the othertypes of mystical creatures (normal humanalchemists are not mystical). The Cursed,however, can be infected by a zombie lord. While infection is high among the average

human populous (75% every bite), it ispossible that the victim does not becomeinfected. Then again, dormant infection isjust as dangerous, if not more so thaninstantaneous infection.

What normally happens when avictim is bitten is he will get infected. Theinfection courses swiftly through his body,within a minute or two he will start showingsigns of being sick. Within eight to tenminutes his body temperature spikes todouble normal temperature. In an hour or sohe is one of the walking dead. Then againsometime it could take up to three to fourtimes as long for a person to go throughthese stages.

That is what happens 75% of thetime. What happens the other 25% of thetime? Well, usually (80% of the rest oftime) the victim just hurts like hell from thebite but recovers (or died from the damageand stays dead), if the bite does not becomeinfected in the mundane sense. Many timethe victim either dies of this mundaneinfection or is thought to be becoming azombie and is killed by those he cares about.

On a few occasions the infection laysdormant. What this means is that the victimseems to recover from the attack with no illeffects, but when he dies (unless it ismassive damage to his head) he raises fromthe dead within minutes as one of thewalking dead.

If a victim of a zombie attackbecomes infected normally he will become anormal zombie. If the infection is caused bya normal zombie there is, however, a 1%chance that the victim will become a zombielord. If the infection is caused by a zombielord, the chances of the victim raises to 10%chance of the victim becoming a zombielord. The Cursed who are bitten by a

zombie has a 15% chance of becoming azombie lord with a 5% chance of theinfection being dormant. If the Cursed isbitten by a zombie lord he has a 45% chanceof becoming a zombie lord and if they arenot infected, there is a 10% chance theinfection is dormant.

Infection and Cloning

Many of The Cursed like to use theClone spell, Transfer Soul spell, Lair spellcontingency to cheat death. Before thezombie apocalypse there was little to noproblem with this, since the rise of thezombie horde, however, new problems havearose.

When one becomes a zombie, itseems a piece of the soul stays with thebody. When one of the infected is put intoan empty vessel, like a clone without a soul,the person’s soul is incomplete. He has hissoul halved (and a new max of 5 for Soul),he has nightmares about being overwhelmedby the hunger of a thousand restless,mindless souls. He is uncoordinated (-5 toall dexterity related skills) and his magic hasa 25% chance of just not working.

These negatives go away when thezombie of the original is destroyed. Thisinformation is known on a Undead Lore ofDifficult or a Zombie Horde Lore ofChallenging.

Zombie

Body: 5/10 Health: N/A Mind: 1/3 Social:1Soul: 1 HP: 10 Will: N/A *note* When a person becomes infected hisBody stat increases by 2 and his Mind stat isreduced by 3 (to a minimum of 1) and isconsidered animal intelligence. A zombiesHP is his Body stat doubled.

BonusesHead Shot

You can cripple them, you can cutthem to pieces, but the only way to truly stopthem is to destroy the brain or sever thespinal cord at the base of the skull. A limbhacked off a zombie whose brain is stillintact will remain animated and can bereattached. Limbs only remain animated andcan be reattached if the limb was removedafter the zombie was infected and became azombie.

A limb lost before or during thetransformation can not be reanimated orreattached. In order for a limb to reattachedthe limb must be held to where it was

removed from as healing or repairing magicis being cast.

UnleashedZombies can not be controlled by

anything other than a zombie lord (or Loapossessing it). No magic, psychic, or othermystical means will work. Not even thepower of true names can compel a zombie. Zombies can be tricked, but not controlled. They can not be trained, they only followtheir base instinct of hunger or the orders ofa zombie lord.

Unspoken BondZombies share a telepathic link

(zombie lords included). Zombies cantelepathically communicate the presence ofliving beings when found, or if one of themis being attacked. Zombie lords can givezombies orders telepathically.

If a non-zombie tries to either readthe mind of a zombie or communicatetelepathically with a zombie he will go mad.

There is a 10% chance that this madness ispermanent. If the madness is not permanent,it will last for 3D4 hours. During thevictims madness he will gibber and rantabout the voice of death, thousandsspeaking, screaming, yelling, crying,laughing all at once. He will talk aboutinfinity in a moment and other suchnonsense. If he is not gibbering andbabbling he will attack anything that moves. He will switch suddenly and withoutwarning between attitudes. Anyone whotries to read his mind or telepathicallycommunicates with the victim while in amaddened state runs the same risk as readingthe mind or telepathically communicatingwith a zombie.

Just Like the Rest in PeaceZombie share all the same traits as

other undead (see the Cursed RPG: theGM’s Guide for these traits) except forregeneration.

PenaltiesThe major penalty of a zombie is that

it can not heal or regenerate on its own. Anyhealing or repairing magic will heal damagedone to a zombie, but that requires someelse to want to heal the zombie. However, ithas become somewhat commonmisinformation that healing magic will hurtzombie. This is not true, but it has helpedzombie survive a few attacks.

Another penalty for zombie is thatonly humans can become zombies. Theywill attack any living humanoid creaturethey see (except for the undead, or those thatappear undead to the zombies). Mysticalcreatures are immune to the effect, but canstill be brought down by a zombie attack(their attacks count as magical attacks forthose that are immune to all but magicalattacks, and as mundane when attackingfey).

Another downside is that Loa (butnot other nature spirits) can ride a zombiewithout any trouble. There is no need for aroll to see if a Loa can ride the zombie, butall Loa detest riding a zombie.

Zombies are also slow moving. They have their speed reduced to 1/3 of theirnormal speed before they were infected. This does not effect their attack speedhowever.

SkillsPerception rank 10, Fist Fight rank 10*note* These are the only skill zombies willever have. Fist Fight is almost always usedfor grappling and biting.

DescriptionThese zombies act like your typical

movie zombies. They lurch, they saunter,and they swarm. They look like dried outcorpses. They do not rot, but many havelarge chunks bitten out from the zombieattack that caused them to become infected. Their movements are stiff and irregular. They often smell bad from rotting gore andblood splattered from their victims, but thezombies themselves smell like a guy thatcould use a shower, but not bring tears toone’s eyes.

HistoryOn December 12, 2012, someone, or

something, calling itself Zork convincedseveral online friends to spike their localwater supply with a supposed newhallucinogenic drug formula he stole from ahard drive kept hidden in the Pentagon. Zork had organised many such events overthe last few years and everyone of its on-linefollowers thought it was hilarious.

It turns out that the drug was not ahallucinogen, but a formula to create an armof the walking dead that would kill everyonearound. It did not take long for the those

who were effected to become zombies. Their victims started to rise from the dead

and started to kill along side their murderers. Soon the walking dead became an epidemic.

Zombie Lord

Body: 5/10 Health: N/A Mind: 2/7 Social:1 Soul: 2/7 HP: 10 Will: N/A *note* Zombie lords gain 2 Body after he ischanged and loses 1 Mind (must still have atleast 2 Mind in order to be a zombie lord). The hit points for a zombie lord is his Bodystat doubled.

BonusesHead Shot

You can cripple them, you can cutthem to pieces, but the only way to truly stopthem is to destroy the brain or sever thespinal cord at the base of the skull. A limbhacked off a zombie whose brain is stillintact will remain animated and can bereattached. Limbs only remain animated andcan be reattached if the limb was removedafter the zombie was infected and became azombie.

A limb lost before or during thetransformation can not be reanimated orreattached. In order for a limb to reattachedthe limb must be held to where it wasremoved from as healing or repairing magicis being cast.

Out of ControlZombies lords can not be controlled

by anything other than a Loa possessing it. No magic, psychic, or other mystical meanswill work. Not even the power of truenames can compel a zombie. Zombies canbe tricked, but not controlled. They can notbe trained, they only follow their baseinstinct of hunger or the orders of a zombielord. If a spell or power requires a Will roll,it will not work on zombies.

Grave SilenceZombies share a telepathic link

(zombie lords included). Zombies cantelepathically communicate the presence ofliving beings when found, or if one of themis being attacked. Zombie lords can givezombies orders telepathically. Zombie lordscan use this to control zombies withoutspeaking which makes it hard for thosefighting the zombies to tell which one is thezombie lord.

If a non-zombie tries to either readthe mind of a zombie or communicatetelepathically with a zombie he will go mad. There is a 10% chance that this madness ispermanent. If the madness is not permanent,it will last for 3D4 hours. During thevictims madness he will gibber and rantabout the voice of death, thousandsspeaking, screaming, yelling, crying,laughing all at once. He will talk aboutinfinity in a moment and other suchnonsense. If he is not gibbering andbabbling he will attack anything that moves. He will switch suddenly and withoutwarning between attitudes. Anyone whotries to read his mind or telepathicallycommunicates with the victim while in amaddened state runs the same risk as readingthe mind or telepathically communicatingwith a zombie.

New Guy Same PartyZombie lords share all the same traits

as other undead (see the Cursed RPG: theGM’s Guide for these traits) except forregeneration.

The Old Zinger Still Works

Zombie lords are capable of learningnew skills. Also, if the know or learn atleast 1 rank in Magic skill they can cast thesame spells as a summoner.

PenaltiesThe major penalty of a zombie lord

is that it can not heal or regenerate on itsown. Like zombies any healing or repairingmagic will heal damage done to a zombielord. Zombie lords can not learn healingmagic so that requires some else to want toheal the zombie lord. However, it hasbecome somewhat common misinformationthat healing magic will hurt zombie. This isnot true, but it has helped zombie survive afew attacks.

Another penalty for zombie is thatonly humans and The Cursed can becomezombies lords, and even then, very rarely. Other mystical creatures are immune to theeffect, but can still be brought down by azombie attack (their attacks count as magicalattacks for those that are immune to all butmagical attacks, and as mundane whenattacking fey).

Another downside is that Loa (butnot other nature spirits) can ride a zombielord without any trouble. There is no needfor a roll to see if a Loa can ride the zombie,but all Loa detest riding a zombie.

Zombies lords are also slow moving. They have their speed reduced to 1/3 of theirnormal speed before they were infected. This does not effect their attack speedhowever.

SkillsZombie lords retain their skills from when

they were human.

DescriptionZombie lords are indistinguishable

from other zombie unless they do somethingunzombie-like, such as talk, stop andconsider a situation, use a tool or weapon. Otherwise, they look like dried out corpses. They do not rot, but many have large chunksbitten out from the zombie attack thatcaused them to become infected. Theirmovements are stiff and irregular. Theyoften smell bad from rotting gore and bloodsplattered from their victims, but thezombies lords themselves smell like a guythat could use a shower, but not bring tearsto one’s eyes.

HistoryIt was sometime in mid-December

2013 that the first zombie lord becameinfected. Somehow, something in theformula the zombie saliva created changed. Since then intelligent zombies started to popup. They do not keep a sense of selfidentity, but they do remember skills, andsometimes very powerful memories fromwhen they were alive. The memories arebarely remembered wisps of vague cloudedthoughts just on the edge of remembering,not enough to bring the victim back from theother side.

The living have no idea how manyzombie lords are out there or what they arecapable of. None know they can cast magic,few know they retain skill from when theywere alive. Most zombie lords do not wantthe living to know what they are capable of.