Campaign Ideas For Zombie campaign

[GBVenkman]

I'm thinking of how to do a "Zombie" attack campaign. Any ideas or advice.

I'll post my ideas soon.

[rabkala]

Do you mean like a resident evil or 28 days type of thing? Were you thinking of a group of Necromancers raising armies of zombies? I guess it depends what you are looking for, but clerics will be the ruin of your poor little zombies if you are not careful. There are some good templates that can help. Tell us where you need help and we're there.

[GBVenkman]

I guess it would be a dooms day scenerio. A cleric of pure evil maybe is channeling a god's power and raising anything dead in the land type deal. I'm not sure on what scale though.

Mix night of the living dead with a low magic world where even if there is a cleric, he's trying to keep everybody else alive. Make resources scarce too. I was thinking a possible expedition into a vast territory that has been raveged.

The players get stranded out in zombie/barbarian frontier and try to get back home... If home is still there!

Maybe in a bronz age setting, I'd like a greek type setting into Gaul... I'm not sure if I'd use forgotton realms, maybe just stick with classical gods... Use the God "Set" as the god of death and night.

[Maelstrom]

Could be pretty interesting. First thing I'd worry about is that it could be too much of the same thing after a couple sessions. Fortunately, undead in 3.5 are very flexible... you can zombiefy anything to keep things interesting.

I could see having a whole cult of clerics running around raising undead and then having lesser clerics control small groups that the party encounters.

So are you thinking of starting them at level 1?

[Digital Arcanist]

Well Heroes of Horror and the Libris Mortis will have some great ideas for you as well as new undead monsters and undead templates to apply to your favorite monsters.

[rabkala]

Here are some useful feats for your evil clerics to use. You can find them and all sorts of goodies at realmshelps.dandello.net/datafind/feats.shtml


CorpsecrafterSource: Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead


Undead you raise or create are tougher than normal.Benefit: Each undead you raise or create with any necromancy spell gains a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and +2 hit points per Hit Die.

Bolster Resistance


Source: Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Undead you raise or create are more resistant to turning than normal.
Prerequisite: Corpsecrafter.
Benefit: Each undead you raise or create with any necromancy spell gains +4 turn resistance.
Deadly Chill


Source: Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Undead you raise or create deal more damage than normal.
Prerequisite: Corpsecrafter.
Benefit: Each corporeal undead you raise or create with any necromancy spell deals an extra 1d6 points of cold damage with its natural weapons.
Destruction Retribution


Source: Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Undead you raise or create harbor a retributive curse that is unleashed if they are destroyed.
Prerequisite: Corpsecrafter
Benefit: Each undead you raise or create with any necromancy spell releases a burst of negative energy upon its destruction, dealing 1d6 points of damage plus an additional 1d6 points per 2 Hit Dice to every creature within a 10-foot spread (Reflex DC 15 half). This damage comes from negative energy, and it therefore heals undead creatures.
Hardened Flesh


Source: Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Undead you raise or create can better handle themselves in a fight.
Prerequisite: Corpsecrafter.
Benefit: Every undead you raise or create with any necromancy spell gains a +2 natural armor bonus to Armor Class.
Nimble Bones


Source: Libris Mortis: The Book of the Dead
Undead you raise or create are faster and more nimble than normal.
Prerequisite: Corpsecrafter.
Benefit: Each undead you raise or create with any necromancy spell gains a +4 bonus on initiative checks and a 10-foot increase to its base land speed.

[GBVenkman]

thanks for the feed back!

Those feats are great, That helps a lot.

Yeah, I'd probably have to look up undead creatures for almost every nitch of the region, like giant undead, flying undead, etc that's taking over all the natural life.

I guess I could make pockets of resistance in mountains where people still are alive, forcing the Invading Greek forces to help out the barbarous humans/elves/etc.

There could also be other non undead monsters in conflict with this onslought.

Maybe make them travel all the way north though the arctic to the source of the evil.

I guess I should just start compialing undead monsters.

[GBVenkman]

Could be pretty interesting. First thing I'd worry about is that it could be too much of the same thing after a couple sessions. Fortunately, undead in 3.5 are very flexible... you can zombiefy anything to keep things interesting.

I could see having a whole cult of clerics running around raising undead and then having lesser clerics control small groups that the party encounters.

So are you thinking of starting them at level 1?

Maybe have them set out from their home land at lvl 1, see some normal combat with natives as they journey north, which could take a few sessions and lvl them up to lvl 4 or so. While they're with the army, they are assigned as a scouting party which helps isolate them from the legion.

Then unsuspectingly to the players, have the whole army get wiped out by something crazy.. Stranding the players far behind enemy lines... So yeah, a round party of players that are lvl 4 or 5.. This sound like a good idea?

[rabkala]

You could make it really nasty with the Book of Vile Darkness. You could introduce vile damage!

It could be that an evil cult of necromancers has built a partial portal to the negative material plane to help taint all their undead creations. The undead will not stop coming until a group of adventures fights its way into the temple and destroys the portal.

Perhaps an evil god is born which turns all the dead for many miles into undead monstrosities. The heroes must find the sight of the evil gods birth and someway stop its tainting effect upon the land.

You could take inspiration from the old horror/ sci-fi films. Maybe a meteor crashed to earth and is corrupting everything that is near it. The group must find this and throw it into an active volcano to make it one with the earth.

It (BOVD) has some good templates like bone creature, corpse creature, and corrupted creature.

[RealmsDM]

epic necromancy spell goes wrong & animates undead that can pass on their zombie-dom akin to lycanthropy.

or

a mishap during the casting of a resurrection spell leads to a new breed of undead that has started to spread a plague which results in undead status

or

a holy day in honor of the dead comes to pass, and this time, due to a forgotten ritual that has gone unforfilled (the last member of an ancient order was killed, the clerics of the faith have come to see the ritual as folklore, etc) the dead begin to rise...

just a few brain farts...

[rabkala]

Have you seen the movie 300 or even The Last Legion? They could get you in the right mood for your Greek setting.

[Maelstrom]

Then unsuspectingly to the players, have the whole army get wiped out by something crazy.. Stranding the players far behind enemy lines... So yeah, a round party of players that are lvl 4 or 5.. This sound like a good idea?

Oh yeah, definitely good. Maybe the army is what is hit by the plauge, lycantrhopy-esque undead, etc meantioned by RealmsDM or rabkala.

And then this army could be a source for a lot of the undead the players continue to see. Leads to a moral conflict as some of the undead they face are some of their pals that they recognize.

I don't have much of a D&D library past the core myself... are their corporeal undead templates that retain class levels/intelligence for warriors/rougues and the like besides a lich/mummy? Even more intrigue as they face the commander of the force, who remembers all his training but is a perfect slave to the evil.

Another question: So who the mastermind?

A Lich Necromancer?
A Mummy Cleric?
A Dracolich?
A Vampire?

Could affect their goals, ambitions, and tactics.

[Digital Arcanist]

A demi-deity of death?

It has alliteration and survivability!!!

[Moritz]

Just a side note. There's a NWN persistent world server out there that is based on a zombie world. You can never advance beyond level 1 and there aren't any magic classes allowed. You just play an unarmed fighter that runs around trying to avoid, or kill, the zombies while gathering various normal items to fight them with. Tons if fun, but you eventually die.

[GBVenkman]

Thanks for all the feed back.

I loved 300, and i read a lot of classical lit (I'm in college, thank you GE's). I'm in the middle of the Illiad now actually, so I've always loved the Greek mythology above all.

I was going to maybe write in all the god's of each region/influence. So while in Greece, the Olympians rule, but while in Gaul or Scandinavia, make the Norse gods have more of a presence. I think it would be easy to throw orcs, elves, and dwarfs, etc since that's the setting that those creatures come from anyhow.

I was thinking of having the source of the scourge come from the north east from some foreign barbarian people that maybe tap into a truly evil god's power..

I like the idea a lot about having a tribe that performs an ancient ritual that wards off the land of the dead that is interrupted...

Hey, that just gave me an Idea... Maybe have the invading army wipe out a tribe of the ancient people in colonizing the area.. So the player's army will be the cause of the god's wrath. This will give not only a whole army of undead, but a whole greek colony of people to be used as dead.

Have the area of the ritual be in some chasm in the mountains, and when the yearly gathering doesn't occur, undead priests and heros from that land come from the underworld to avenge the heresy. Then the scurge won't rest until all the invading greeks are dead. I'm not too sure how the PCs would get out of that one. Maybe make them search out a wise shaman from far into the worlderness to guide them. Or they could try to get back to Greece (which would take a while and get them up to lvl 10+ and enlist the help of their own patron dieties.

Thanks!