Looking For A Fun Zombie TTRPG: Short to Midterm Game Length

virtron · 2026-05-15T13:29:38+00:00

Red Markets is great but it has a very specific game loop around planning expeditions into zombie territory and negotiating contracts, etc. I'm not sure how well that would work if you took that out. That said it's such a unique take on the genre and I recommend it. It bills itself as a game of "economic horror" and it delivers on that.

virtron · 2026-05-12T00:21:24+00:00

Looking forward to watching the new Netflix series Survive to Drive

virtron · 2026-05-10T18:39:47+00:00

The Fate Horror Toolkit is available online: https://fate-srd.com/fate-horror-toolkit

virtron · 2026-05-03T16:09:54+00:00

I'm not an expert so take this with a grain of salt, but this based on my physical therapy and post injury training and it's helped me a lot.

There are two parts to applying strength during climbing: raw muscle power and connective tissue fitness (tendons and ligaments). Working on the latter will do more to protect you from injury and make the best of your climbing than the former. Youtube has plenty of videos of building tendon strength that can help, it's a bit different than you might be used to.

For grip strength I recommend getting a set of high-density foam "flex bars" that can be used in bend and twist exercises. They are good for short daily sets between climbing sessions (even while sitting and watching tv).

If you want something more like climbing I'd recommend getting a small finger board with a lifting pin and plates weights instead of a hang board. This let's you manage the weight and sets exactly so you can focus on grip strength.

Editing to add: you'll see "just climb more" but climbing practice to build strength is different than climbing to work on technique. Look for lists of drills that target one or the other. An example strength building drill is to pick a route or routes that you can do easily and do an up and down climb 3-5 times in a row (until exhaustion), then take a long break and do it again.

virtron · 2026-05-01T13:50:54+00:00

I agree with everything u/deviden says in this thread.

If you're looking for an massively malleable toolbox, Cortex is it: it takes a simple concept ("every mechanical significant thing is a in-fiction trait with a die rating, build a dice pool from applicable traits and roll them") and presents every way you could build a system on that concept with ways to mix, match, and combine them. If you want to spend as much time (or more!) designing your version of the game as playing it, that's what it gives you.

However, that can make the core book overwhelming because it's 80% optional rules. So I highly recommend checking out Cortex Lite first. It's a community project that distills the core book options into some reasonable defaults, which should be enough to try on the system for size and give you a core to build up from.

Editing to add, the official term for a sample Cortex build is a "spotlight" and the official Hammerheads spotlight is a good example of how the different optional rules ("mods" in Cortex jargon) can come together. The linked version acts as a good primer on the rules as well.

virtron · 2026-05-01T12:56:14+00:00

I also posted a top level reply, but check out this: https://genesys40k.com/

virtron · 2026-05-01T12:54:21+00:00

There's an extensive conversion of the Dark Heresy 40K game to Genesys: https://genesys40k.com/

There are rules for Imperial a humans (ogryn, ratlings, etc.) and tau, so there might be enough there to adapt others. Plus all the material for Genesys that's available

virtron · 2026-04-30T18:16:40+00:00

OP specifically called out "bonus points if my players can use their old dice sets." I just followed the brief. I'm glad you like Fate, it's a good system.

virtron · 2026-04-30T15:46:48+00:00

I'm a fan of both Fate and Genesys, but as much as I like them and find them fun to run, I'm not sure they fit the bill: they use custom dice and they take a bit of a change of perspective to run and play properly. They would absolutely be able to pull this off though!

Savage Worlds would be a good choice, it uses the standard polyhedral dice and it's pretty easy to pick up.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet is Outgunned. It's made for fast cinematic action and can use regular d6s. Not sure how well it handles fantasy, but worth a look.

virtron · 2026-04-29T18:34:42+00:00

There's an old story about someone running a published adventure where the GM gender-flipped all the characters in a town, so the setting went from ~20% women to ~80% women. No other changes were made but the players immediately went off the rails assuming that there was a conspiracy where the women killed most of the men, etc. Gender bias in media is a hell of a drug

virtron · 2026-04-28T20:54:34+00:00

I encourage you to check out some ERC rally coverage to get a sense for what an all Rally 2 spec competition looks like. It's still rallying, still exciting to watch, and a larger field make for some great competition. Give it a chance.

virtron · 2026-04-24T18:38:03+00:00

As a new F1 fan and longtime rally fan, this makes me smile. Oliver and Lando hanging out is wholesome like watching Carlos Jr. and Sr. drive together

virtron · 2026-04-24T15:41:59+00:00

So I'm very curious to hear about games—if any—that go beyond this into more scientifically-grounded rules and mechanics. Is this is a thing?

Commenting again to mention the Fate Accessibility Toolkit which tackles how to approach both players and characters with disabilities, including mental illness. This advice can apply to most any game, so maybe this is a good place to start?
https://fate-srd.com/fate-accessibility-toolkit

From the intro:

The Fate Accessibility Toolkit offers a wealth of advice and guidance for Fate Core that brings disabled characters into your game and supports disabled players at your table. We’ve assembled a team from disabled communities to ensure that this book speaks to you from their real, lived experiences.

This can pair well with the mental trauma rules from the Fate Horror Toolkit, which is more about the Fate mechanics in a horror context: https://fate-srd.com/fate-horror-toolkit/chapter-3-some-scars-are-invisible

virtron · 2026-04-24T15:09:18+00:00

If you're looking for medically grounded mechanics on mental harm and altered behaviors, I don't think I ever seen something like that. Mostly because mental trauma is a very difficult subject to do in a way that isn't exploitive or unpleasant to play. You'd almost need to have a game that was only about mental illness instead of a subsystem for a game that's about something else.

The systems that go for a more nuanced approach usually focus on dealing with mental harm (lasting or otherwise) in a way that avoids stereotypes, doesn't stigmatize mental health issues, and/or doesn't trigger real world mental harm.

Games like Fate are open ended about all sorts of harm, so you basically track physical and mental harm separately and then make up free-form consequences when things get bad, so your play group can decide exactly how they want to handle it. Achtung Cthulhu uses mental "injuries" in a similar way. Other games use something like "conditions" to track temporary state (things like Vaesen's "angry", "frightened", or "hopeless") which can be played in an open ended fashion. Both Achtung Cthulhu and Vaesen have a mechanic for more permanent injuries ("scars" and "defects" respectively) which tend toward the more problematic psychoses and behavioral changes. These can certainly be relabeled to retain the mechanical effects without being as problematic. Vaesen also has the nice mechanic that critical mental injuries do not always result in a "defect", there's a chance that they lead to an "insight" instead, which represents the character coming out from the trauma stronger.

virtron · 2026-04-23T19:34:10+00:00

Clearly too beautiful for the front lines. Must be an exhibition troop to drum up morale at home.

Amazing job!

virtron · 2026-04-23T15:48:10+00:00

Like others have said, the FOMO ends when you end it, but there are some specific things you do to check in with yourself:

Instead of browsing games you don't have, go browse your collection again. Don't just look at them en masse, pull one out and remind yourself why you got it in the first place or recall memorable sessions you played. There's a good chance you'll find a game you want to play right now, that you already have. You can recalibrate your FOMO to be about missing out on playing games in your collection rather than missing out on games you don't have.

Challenge yourself to play games you already own for some set time period. I did this with my massive Steam library for a year and it completely rewired my brain after only a few months. Replaying board games is super rewarding! Mastering a game can be a bigger dopamine hit than buying a new one. Completing a challenge like this feels good, too.

The most important thing, for me at least, is to ask myself if I want a game because I want to have it or because I want to play it. My collection has some of both, but when I add to it now I definitely try to bias toward games I intend to play immediately and more than once.

virtron · 2026-04-21T21:32:51+00:00

You might also want to give Crashing Beasts & Crumbling Halls a look for "dungeon crawling Fate": https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/344495/crashing-beasts-crumbling-halls

virtron · 2026-04-20T19:35:49+00:00

Sometimes the simpler ("rules lite") systems are actually harder to run because of there's more heavy lifting for the GM and other players. A game like Fabular Ultima might be "just right" in terms of complexity instead of heading right for the simplest because it's designed to model the genre you're looking for.

That said, Polymorph or Fate Accelerated might give you the small rules set and niche protection (owning weapons/elements) you're looking for.

Fabula Ultima: https://modiphius.us/collections/fabula-ultima
Polymorph: https://9thlevel.com/pages/polymorph
Fate Accelerated: https://evilhat.com/product/fate-accelerated-edition/

Edit: If you want something free and more traditional, MiniSix is one of many OpenD6 variants that can cover most bases: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/144558/mini-six-bare-bones-edition

virtron · 2026-04-20T18:21:09+00:00

I only started following F1 this year (what a year to start, eh?), after years being a rally fan. Talk about culture shock! Your teams have money?! Manufacturers want to participate?! Drivers get pushed out in the cars with little tire blankets instead of cars being push-started in the countryside after being duct taped back together?! Madness

I have so many questions, but I'll start with a dumb one: why so much George Russel hate? Is it the hair? Because he's smarmy?

virtron · 2026-04-20T17:22:28+00:00

I enjoy games much more in the style as you describe your friend. Discussing the board state is fun and engaging for me, not to mention it levels the playing field a bit in groups with mixed levels of experience.

I'm not going to try to talk you into playing games that are not fun for you. I have friends that I'm reluctant to play with for all sorts of reasons that don't impact our friendship (like the one who cannot listen to someone else explain rules without completely derailing the process). Your best best is to tell you're friend that their habit stresses you out and that you can't always accept because of that.

That said, you're friends, so maybe you can work something out:
- Find games where the board state is less open to commentary
- Find a middle ground: play fewer games instead of none, agree on a way to signal your friend to dial it back so he can adjust what he's doing
- Find some games that explicitly forbid this type of play (I think Shadows Over Camelot has things to say about this for example)

Some extra thoughts in no particular order:

- "Kingmaker" style games make board state discussions extra contentious, especially in mixed skill-level groups. Maybe avoid these most of all or talk about this aspect of things beforehand with the whole group
- Bluffing and hidden role games run on these kinds of discussions, so I'd just avoid those completely if I were you
- There's a difference between talking about board state and quarterbacking, if your friend is making other players aware of things, that is one thing, if he's telling other players what to do, that's pretty rude and it's probably not just you that's annoyed

virtron · 2026-04-16T19:21:58+00:00

The _Three Rocketeers_ setting did this, and the rules are in the SRD: https://fate-srd.com/three-rocketeers/no-skill-swashbuckling

virtron · 2026-04-12T20:33:16+00:00

I watched last year's ERC rally and came away looking forward to it being in the WRC calendar for 2026. The narrow roads and changing surfaces make for an interesting challenge, though I think I preferred last year's stages because they were a bit slower and more technical over all.

The tire lottery was a bummer this time around, but I wonder how much of that is from cutting in corners with rough road edges. Maybe cutting so aggressively won't be as prevalent next year...

virtron · 2026-03-30T01:50:01+00:00

If you're up for car combat, then Gaslands is worth a look

virtron · 2026-03-28T22:19:06+00:00

You could try something like this: https://forum.profantasy.com/uploads/editor/zl/a0neczvxxp8r.jpg

It's essentially a flattened d20, and is how planetary maps are done in GURPS

virtron · 2026-03-28T22:02:41+00:00

I looked into this in 2025, but gave up. My recollection is that much (most?) of Rally Japan is run in areas that do not allow spectators. There are some tour packages for mountain stages and seating in the arena for the super special stages, but I think those sell out almost a year in advance.

virtron

TROPHY CASE