ATZ Campaign, Day 1 Redux: Outbreak

"Nyugh!" grunted Robb as he jolted awake from a horrible dream.  How had he dropped off to sleep at work?  And what was that nightmare about?  "Boss," said Marilyn as she came into his office, "there's all sorts of weird reports on the radio about some kind of disaster.  If it is all right with you, I'd like to head home."

"Sounds like a great idea.  I think I better head home myself if something's up," said Robb as he grabbed his hat and coat and headed out the door.

I decided to give the ATZ campaign another go with my hero Robb.  This time around, however, he is going to head home first to meet up with his girlfriend Irene and get equipment, then head to the store.  At Rep 3, it sounded like a good plan.  Again, Robb is a civilian and has Born Leader and Agile.

Robb once again heads out into the unknown.

Turn 1: Robb 4, Zombies 2
Turn 2: Robb 3, Zombies 1
Turn 3: Robb 1, Zombies 6

Robb began to walk down the streets of River City back towards town.  Unbeknownst to him, a strange figure was shuffling towards him at an unsteady gait.  Another was following him at some distance along the same road.

Normal movement for Turn 2, but Turn 3 brings zombies onto the table.  Since a suburb counts as a rural area on Day One, I rolled 1d6 and got 2.  Rolling again for the location, I got the towards the bottom and top, meaning both zombies were along the same road as Robb.  Since zombies don't trigger LOS the first turn they appear, Robb can't spot either of them.

Robb fails to notice he is being slowly surrounded.

Turn 4: Robb 1, Zombies 2

Robb was so caught up with wondering what the disaster might be that he failed to notice the figure lurching in front of him.  The zombie, holding its own head up with its right hand, hurled himself into Robb's way.  "What the heck are you doing?" Robb shouted at him as the zombie began to claw at him.  

Robb swung at the man as it tried to bite his arm, knocking the loosely-held head free of the body.  "What the hell is that thing," Robb wondered as it gazed at the gory figure.

Both sides activate, zombies going first, and I moved them towards Robb.  Robb moved forward, directly at the first zombie, prompting a "Zed or No Zed" test which I failed with a 0d6.  That meant that I would be fighting at a penalty against the zombie, which Robb apparently didn't notice was not a regular pedestrian.  Luckily Robb passed 3d6 to 1d6, making the zombie Obviously Dead.  Whew!  The second zombie was trailing behind, however.

Robb deals with one zombie, but still fails to notice the second.

Turn 5: Robb 5, Zombies 2

Robb was examining the decapitated figure when a second zombie jumped onto his back, wielding a bloody frying pan.  Robb writhed about, trying to throw off the woman.  Finally with a heave he tossed her onto the ground, cracking her head on the pavement.  With a shudder, the woman fell still.

Robb survives being ambushed a second time.

The scuffle had not gone unnoticed, however.  Two zombies staggered out from behind the nearby school, while another staggered up the road from whence Robb had come.

Gah!  The second zombie activated and charged Robb from behind, meaning she got an additional 2d6 to her melee dice, making it an even 3d6 each.  The first round had both passing 0d6, but the second had Robb passing 1d6 to her 0d6, and she was OOF.  Double whew!

The downside?  Another seven meant zombies, three this time: two the the left side, another at the bottom.

Two zombies leave the schoolyard's playground.

Turn 6: Robb 2, Zombies 5

Robb ducked into his house.  Irene was in the kitchen, wearing her roller derby attire.  "What's wrong?" she asked.

"There's something very strange going on out there, I was attacked by two people on the street," said Robb as he went up into the bedroom.  He came back down with a large pistol and snapped a clip into the handle.  "Do we still have that machete?" he asked.

"The machete?  You mean the one from the backpacking trip you took fifteen years ago?  No, it didn't come with us when we moved here," Irene said with some confusion.  "What do you need a machete for?"

Robb went to a closet and pulled out a shotgun.  "Fine, then take this.  What about the baseball bat from when I coached little league?"

"We still have that.  Robb, this is a crummy hinge-action shotgun made in Belarus."

Robb came back from the garage and handed her the tee-ball bat.  "It's better than nothing.  We need to get to the store and get some things.  I checked the pantry this morning and we're almost out of food.  We need to get to the store and stock up before things get really out of hand.  You should go get changed."

Irene looked at her skates and the pads on her wrists and knees.  "If it's as bad as you say it is, I'll stick with my 'boutfit' if it is all the same to you."

Robb and Irene leave the house, ready for anything.

Irene is Rep 3 Civilian with the trait "Athletic."  Since I'm at my house, according to the rules I can stock on up on what's there.  Robb will carry the Big Ass Pistol, while Irene gets the shotgun and the baseball bat.  I figured I wouldn't want her using the shotgun in case of an emergency, since they tend to summon a lot of zombies, but I'd prop her up with a melee weapon.

The downside is that a seven means even more zombies, another at the left, and another at the bottom.

Turn 7: Robb 2, Zombies 6

Turn 8: Robb 5, Zombies 5

Robb and Irene began walking towards the local "big box" store.  As they passed a car pulled up on the curb, a crowd of people rushed towards them.  "Quick!" one of them shouted, "grab that car before they do!"

Robb glanced at the approaching mob.  The didn't seem to be falling apart like the other two people on the street, but they were clearly coming at that them looking for a fight.  Robb clocked the first one with a strong right, but had only a second to be proud of that fact before another one bore him down to the ground.  "Robb!" shouted Irene as she began swinging her bat wildly, her blows glancing off the panicked crowd.  The mob quickly scattered.  Irene helped Robb up to his feet.  "You okay?" she asked.

"It's mostly my pride.  Let's get to the store before anything else happens."

The doubles mean a mob of panicked civilians, and a 1d6 says there are five of them.  Now that I have two people on my team, I thought I would divide them up relatively evenly until one side or the other goes completely down.  Robb went 2d6 to 0d6 on the first civilian, rendering the civilian OOF.  The second, however, beat him 1d6 to 2d6, meaning Robb is OOF (again).  That leaves Irene, but she is armed with a bat, making her rolling 4d6 to the civilians' 2d6.  She managed to defeat the other four after a long series of go-rounds (seven, in fact).

Thankfully the two 5's mean the the zombies fail to advance.

Irene shows the mob how they do it on the rink.

Turn 9: Robb 6, Zombies 3

Turn 10: Robb 6, Zombies 2

Turn 11: Robb 2, Zombies 3

Turn 12: Robb 1, Zombies 5

Robb and Irene approached the store.  They could hear the sounds of a number of shoppers even before they entered the place.  From inside the store they could see mobs of people milling about, desperately gathering up food and other supplies.  Why does this look familiar, Robb thought to himself as they entered the store.  Immediately within a large mob of people surged towards them, screaming and clutching various goods to their bodies.  "This is nuts!" shouted Irene as she began beating back people as they approached.  One of them, a large fellow, threw her up against a rack of shopping carts and she fell in a tangle of wire and wheels.

"Damn it!" shouted Robb as he began flailing at the mob, but he too was eventually knocked to the ground and trampled under foot.

Robb and Irene are knocked out by an angry mob, who unfortunately will be rushing headlong into several zombies.

Three turns of the zombies activating brought them dangerously close to Robb and Irene, who because of their heading towards the store on the far corner didn't see them.  I had decided not to reset the table and instead just had them heading to an opposite side from where Robb had begun at his workplace.  Before the zombies could actually get close enough to charge, Robb and Irene made it to the store, which according to the rules for Day One had 2d6 panicked civilians, this time 7 of them.  I decided, given her advantage, to let Irene handle the first several, but she stunned me by rolling 0d6 to the first civilian's 1d6!  So much for that.  Robb went three rounds with one civilian at 1d6 apiece before beating the first one 3d6 to 1d6, but then lost 1d6 to 2d6 on the second, and once again big box stores would prove to be Robb's undoing, and this location would be lost.

Now for a couple of questions.  First, do you have to do ten locations on Day One?  Some of them I would never consider attempting in the questionnaire.  Second, do you normally reset the zombies to zero after each location?  I've got several on the table now, but I also have six panicked civilians.  Advice is appreciated.

To be continued...