DND5e meets Zombie Apocalypse plus a bit of CIV

Okay the title is mental I know and with the knowledge of everyone here I can expect a "have you tried x" my ideas are crazy enough that I feel like im the only one who could truly only have this idea of a game lol anyway let me explain;

character creation
Standard DND rolls but one added 4d4s for luck (savaging, etc explained later), there will be a resistance secret roll which will be a 1d100, a high resistance roll doesnt mean immune it means you will just be hurt instead of infected, you can survive bites its not a instant "Im going to die"

Classes
Since this is modern times there will be no dnd classes but classes similar to them, barbarian like class based on strength, bards that are charismatic (Can be important in cases in the ZA lol) and rogue like that are more sneaky, so on and so forth, obviously wizards and sorcery is out but replaced by different fields like mechanical or medical experience, no need to be a doctor or mechanic in backstory

Races
Only human but allowing all races to be picked and there stats added to there character including humans (plus free feat)

Feats
Feats will be apart of the progression tree, feats will have different tiers 5/10/15% and different buffs depending on your class, some classes will not have x feat where as others will, feats will be edited from dnd5e but most will be newly created

Groups/Factions
There will be different groups and factions in the map, players can make there own and team up or go solo, everyone will have a starting point which is considered home or HQ, Groups will share one and solo will have a smaller area then groups, solo has a lower chance of being spotted but survivability is lower where as group is opposite

Grow
Supplies help you grow as solo or a group, supplies add to your HQ level which helps holding out against zombies, other players or NPCs who want your stuff

Weapons
DND5e weapons will be edited or changed, dagger becomes knife, throwing axe becomes hatchet, greataxe becomes sledgehammer, etc, full list will be put up

The point/end game
Survive, go exploring, get supplies, grow your group, beat the apocalypse

Full list of edited classes, weapons and feats will be posted when fully complete and fleshed out, if you have any questions or anything be free to ask

Choice of Game System

First the obligatory response: There are a number of modern day, ZA games, such as All Flesh Must Be Eaten, as well as modern day games that contain zombies such as World of Darkness. The advantage of such games is that most of the "conversion" work has been done for you. Classes, gears, powers, are already setting appropriate.

However, there are strong reasons to take something that you know well (5e in this case) and modify it instead for what you need. If you have played tons of a specific game, then you will have a better, intuitive sense of combat difficulties and encounter scaling.

CIV

Your premise seems to incorporate the idea of gaming an HQ - the group will have to maintain their base in order to grow/survive. I really like this idea. This is like reskinning kingdom management in D&D, and I'm sure that there are a number of resources to assist with that (such as in the DMG).

End Game

THIS. Every game should be designed with this in mind. What are the end conditions? When do the players achieve or fail and it is known. Otherwise, you just kind of keep going until enough people get bored and what to try something new. When that happens, the game dissolves with little sense of closure or finality.

In your case, maybe you're talking about "beat the apocalypse", that is survive until the zombies go away - whether that is some agency works out a cure, or the zombies only last a certain time frame after running out of food, or aliens kill them all, etc. Maybe it is up to the players to end the ZA, maybe not. Predefining how that will happen, and either allowing the players to help (or hinder) or simply have to survive for the predetermined 286.3 days or whatever, is awesome.

I am totally in in terms of the conversion (thank goodness it's 5e, I don't know any other system yet) and would love to play in this campaign. One thing that does confuse me are the backgrounds and classes. Are we taking all the same classes and reskinning them? A lot changes in the modern age with guns and electronics, there aren't a lot of blacksmiths making greatswords nowadays (although that would be an awesome premise: a group of survivors must survive the apocalypse in an antique shop or renaissance fair!)

I would suggest looking at End of the World for this. It often says a game can last for just a session which could be the in game course of a few days, or you could go for years in a survival style game. But I had been running one in the secondary manner and I did run into lack of interest after some time.

One thing I like about the EotW system though, was that it also offered Post-postapacolypses. So the first situation was Night of the Meteor. Where a meteor shower put radiation into Earth's atmosphere that brought the dead back to life. It was all standard apocalypse affair. But if you went to the post-post, it turned into a dystopian future where one corporation had successfully devised a cure for this all and leveraged that to achieve global power over countries and continents with the power of that. So suddenly you jump ahead a few years and you are fighting as a resistance fighter instead of surviving the zombie apacolypse.

I think they did that to show how the system could be used outside the canned zombie situation, and I kind of liked that idea. It also puts heavy emphasis on the stress that you would endure throughout the game by making just about every challenge put some more physical, mental, or social stress on you, that eventually you have to deal with.

@Qralloq: I think i'll skip on classes as it can shoe horn people but yes I know dnd 5e well enough to attempt to convert stuff, I will look over AFMBE tho to see what I can Steal convert lol the HQ will be based more on common supplies then seperated into food, water, upkeep, etc, if you aren't getting supplies tho you will starve/dehydrate/etc, the end goal is a secret but yes there will be one.

@liteningstrike12: Guns will be apart of this, i've yet to decide how rare or common ammo will be, the guns will be simple ARs, handguns and probably a boltie, I think a shotgun may be possible but may be much, concerning blacksmithing the possibility of a savaged knife/sword/blade/spear/etc is a possibility, an idea came to mind while in early concept of a nerd who had a replica GoT sword, these items would be reskins of a weapon.

Don't forget, in the Game Master handbook for D&D there are a few stats listed for Modern Weaponry. I've actually been running a campaign using Modern Weaponry.

Also Wizards has a few articles on their site that I based my stuff off of.

Modern Magic Unearthed Arcana
Article on Conversion

Good luck with the campaign!

I looked over the clothing section which is pretty usefull before hand wish they had actual weapons, I may just reskin the handcross bow and longbow to weapons, there are flintlock weapons in the books but yeah, the profiency was why I thought about reskinning but seems like its best to on the fly give people by there backstory gear and profiency to stuff obviously limitations

There is a section of Modern Weaponry in the Game Master Handbook you can try and pull from. Let me find an image. I think I pulled one of it.

Thanks man, surprised I didnt find something like that online

I had to pull it out of the book for my reference. Let me dig up my San Waterdeep game's wiki. I expanded on a few things with that, but mine is set sort of slight future so you may need to even rework it for your use.

San Waterdeep Wiki

Just click Wiki on the sidebar to get to my Table of Content's page. Under weapons you should find what you need. :)

Seriously dude thanks for the help

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Game page is up, We shall return, this concept sounds very out of the box but its a very revolving door style of PBP, if you aren't enjoying it/other commitments/etc then your character can simply die or move on, everyone has there own story somewhat be it group or solo, so if its two or three or 10 its still gonna go on

No problem. Feel free to use any of that stuff. I decided to join the game. I would love to give this a try.

I have one more suggestion. That is the progression tree from a fan-made Gamma World 5e conversion set. They essentially give everyone the same class of 'Gamma Wanderer'. It makes everyone the same class that only gets more generic perks from leveling. This is good because if your game has no classes it has no progression besides health. No progression can cause burnout if you are never getting any better at anything.

Here is the PDF. Just skip all of the stuff and go the the Gamma Wanderer Class.

Note also the game only has 10 levels. This system was made for quicker expansion, and because it's pretty easy to die with most of the enemies in the system. Since character generation I'm that world is mostly random rolls it's easy to roll a new character.

You get feats each level which are tierable so level 1 you have a feat point you can put into any feat (feats are yet to be fully fleshed out by me currently so I'll use some examples)

Tier 1: Resistance; add 5 resistance points
Tier 2: Resistance; add 5 more resistance points
Tier 3: Resistance; get advantage on resistance rolls

Tier 1: Slippery; the first zombie that uses grapple in a fight has disadvantage to grab you

Tier 1: Crowd pleaser; if there are more then 5 zombies you get +2 to your damage modifier
Tier 2: Crowd pleaser; if there are more than 5 zombies you get advantage on your to hit roll

Tier 1: Hightailing; if there are more than 5 zombies you have advantage on escaping the fight

It's almost like a spec your own class instead of following a set you get this or that

Levelling up will be 300xp per level and will give you +1 to health (might be up to a certain level then it'll be +2) this will give everyone a fair and easy balance so everyone is similar and nobody is this crazy God like character, everyone is mortal here and a gun shot is a gun shot, you get a bullet in the head or vital places you will likely die, I'm the George R.R Martin to this, anyone can die at anytime, you can kill anyone at any time, granted pistol vs your screwdriver isn't a good option but hey you could still pull it off lol

Ah, sounds interesting.

If it's a group survival game, how about having more than one characters? Like, 3 per player?
When something comes up and a team goes out, players can assemble a group specific to what they expect.
This would also help continuity and, with the variety of different character types, keeping player interest.

I was actually considering allowing two PC's, I think 3 may be a bit too many as you can pick the ideal 3 who cater to what the other ones don't, the only real issue comes if you have one in a group and one solo, in those situations it could lead to some major meta-gaming of course thats worse case scenario and I doubt it would happen, I think two would be completely fine tho, i'll bump up the number of characters tho

I'm a little confused on how we are adapting character creation from Gamma World to your modern times, so let me know if I have this straight: everyone chooses the normal human species, any occupation/background from real life, then uses the Gamma Wanderer class for equipment and proficiencies. Stats are 3d6+3, including a "luck" stat. We don't roll our d100 "immunity" stat ourselves. Also, we should ignore "ancient technology" as this is present day, not the future

We aren't, gamma was suggested more for the level bonuses plus GW has modern weapon stats which im gooing to be using some but the levels aren't being used, the rolls are normal dnd 4d6's plus a 4d6 luck stat and a 1d100 resistance (not immunity) secret roll (theres a box far right only GM can see when you click it and roll) which changes the bite ability on a zombie attack to a scratch or grapple on a failed roll by it, in essence the higher it is the less likely a zombie can infect you

Ah. What about skills, equipment, and proficiencies? I'd just like to start filling out my character sheet(s)

Profiencies are up, traits will be up as well as weapons in a day or two, its best to discuss this in the game forums then the tavern page

cool, sorry. I'm just excited!

2 More spots open, more if needed

something that I missed to put is PVP is allowed (unless your in a group, PVP to group members is a no but to all outsiders then yeah unless theres a really good reason too)

Hey. This sounds like a really cool idea. I applied.

You seem to have indicated that you're building the new classes. Is there any chance I can make up my own background to reflavor one of the preexisting classes (with your help and approval, of course)?

There is technically no classes, depending on your background you'll get a buff to something ie mechanic will get a plus to mechanic checks like siphoning fuel or taking parts off the vehicle or a teacher will get a little knowledge about something, it's literally a play by ear type of situation with the backgrounds

Map is up, I'll be starting this in the coming days (it's a drop in/drop out type of situation)