A "party RPG" request for help: Zombies vs Hunters

Maybe a modded version of some "How to Host A Murder" games? Get a hold of one of them, and I'd say it would be a LARP as long as the guests stay in character as zombies or zombie hunters. :)

The main difference between a LARP and a Murder Mystery game is the presence of mechanics. I am of course very inspired by a few of the mystery games in which I've participated, but it would be great if we could actually make some kind of "winnable" game out of it, by including some mechanics for the times if (when) the hunters and zombies decide to fight.

What might work better is a party game (or series of party games) themed around zombies and zombie hunters, and make it a competition. For example:

* War! Hunters have nerf guns, but only "kill" their opponent if they hit them in the head. Zombies "kill" hunters when they touch them, but can only move at a walking pace.
* Research! A game of Operation, as the hunters attempt to study the zombie and learn its secrets.
* Brains! Zombies have to eat various "brains" (jello molds, maybe) and find the one with a prize inside.

Anyhow, that's my thoughts. People have been drinking and playing games for years, so look at games that people play while drinking, and work backwards from there.

I like to think of Rock-Paper-Scissors as a good mechanic for task resolution. A best of 3 system works. The Zombie player can declare a lock-up if within 5 feet of a Zombie Hunter. If the Zombie wins 2 out of 3, then the Hunter is infected. If the Hunter wins 2 out of 3, then the Hunter kills the zombie. When infected, the Hunter wears some sort of marker (a sock on their off-hand or something like that) and after 15 minutes becomes a zombie. Hunters have the advantage of using ranged weapons to stun a zombie. Depending on the number of players, you make that many + 5 sock balls, and use them as ammo. If the sock ball hits the zombie, the zombie has to count to 15 using "one-onethousand, two one-thousand..." etc. The Hunters can also initiate a lock-up with the zombie using the ranged weapon sock or physical. For the ranged to work, they have to hit the zombie with the sock-ball, then rock-paper-scissors as usual to determine if it's a kill. Only difference is that the zombie doesn't infect the hunter if it wins, and the hunter is down an ammo-sock.

My friends and I did something very similar to this several years ago. It started out as a regular old party, but there were a couple of people in on the game aspect of it.

It worked like this:

At a certain point in the party, one person left under false pretenses. He came back later as a zombie and attacked the first person he saw (pre-arranged with that person for maximum effect). That person had his guts ripped out by the zombie (a ziploc filled with liver and goo was hidden beneath his shirt). Everyone freaked, and then more zombies started to arrive. The guests at the party were veteran LARPers so they knew instinctively that this was a game. When a zombie "bit" someone, he just grabbed the person by the shoulders and whispered "you're now a zombie; go around front to the trailer and get made up" in their ear.

Nobody had any weapons, but there was something about an anti-zombie spell that was looked up on the Internet. I don't remember what the exact setup for that was, but the fun part of it was that it didn't work. In the end, there was one girl left who wasn't a zombie, and it made for a great visual as the rest of us shambled down the street in pursuit of her.

A drinking game, though...hmm. Perhaps the zombies take a drink every time they turn a human, and both zombie and human take a drink every time the human downs a zombie. That way the zombies deteriorate worse than the humans. Oh, and you could have shots be like "first aid kits" or antidotes for zombie bites.

You should play HOL.

Because it's one of the few games that really is improved by adding booze. Good times.

I have to concur with this.

My only suggestion is that you should use the amount of beer left in your bottle as a measure of health. Once your bottle is empty, you turn into a zombie.

Oh man, that would end up with a whole room of zombies very quickly.

...And this is bad how? =)

That would certainly be keeping with the spirit of the genre.

However, a clever hunter will go back and get a new bottle before the current one is empty. This makes the kitchen/keg/tube o'ice with bottles into some kind of hosptial.

Oh no! The zombies have the keg surrounded!

So instead of BRAAAAAIIIIINNNNSSSSSS, they're groaning for BEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRR?

Zombies!

My suggestion would be to model it somewhat on the game Mafia, but with encouraging some larp elements (walking around, costumes, etc.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(game)

For characters, I'd have:
A single Zombie Hunter from Zombie Squad.
A single Witch Doctor or Mad Scientist.
A bunch of Innocent Victims.

At the first night fall, the Mad Scientist kills someone, but instead of leaving play they become a zombie.

During the day, the ZS member can guess which one of the town folk have been turned in to a zombie. He'll point at one other player, and ask you if that player smells weird or shambles or whatever. The important thing is that the Witch Doctor doesn't register as undead, so if he guesses the WD's player, you can tell him he's innocent. Players can then vote to kill the zombie. The ZS player can also try to recruit one other player in to joining Zombie Squad and fighting the undead menace. (I'd go to http://www.zombiehunters.org and buy some buttons or stickers.) New members of Zombie Squad can try and find zombies on the next day, but only the leader can recruit people.

The next night fall the Witch Doctor and any Zombies can elect to kill someone and turn them in to zombies. (If you're running a less than gigantic group, maybe put a limit to how many new zombies a night. Maybe just one a night or "half as many players as are on the Zombie team" or whatever.)

The next day the leader of ZS can recruit someone, and all ZS members can try to determine who's a zombie, and then vote to kill them.

The Zombies win if they ever outnumber the innocents and the Zombie Squad guys win if they kill all the zombies and the witch doctor.

That's the quick idea, and would need to be worked out a bit before I'd play it, but it could be fun.

You could ask Ben if there's a copy of Zombies on Ice on the web anywhere, or you could probably do something with Are You a Werewolf? but change the werewolves to Zombies?

Be warned, any LARP where there is no limit on how many Zombies can be created will ALWAYS end up in 100% Zombification.

In "The Book of LARP" there is a game called All the President's Zombies... The blurb:

Name: All The President's Zombies

Game System: Rules to Live By

Players: 9

Mr. President, I'm afraid we have Zombies. Now you and your cabinet must deal with the Zombie situation, but everyone has their own agendas. A silly political game. New players welcome.