Everyone remembers where they were when the world changed, when the dead stopped being dead. In the World of The Walking Dead as presented by Free League Publishing you will get a chance to play in the official Universe licensed by AMC Studios. Similarly to the Characters in the Television Show of the same name, you and your friends will take on the roles of Survivors trying to stay one step ahead of the Dead. In this vein, you will create a Character using a variation of the Award Winning Year Zero Engine which is ideally suited to this game and its more esoteric concepts.
On paper, your Survivor is represented by four core Attributes, Strength, Agility, Wits, and Empathy with each one also carrying Skills related to those same core Attributes. Your Attribute, added to an appropriate Skill, determines how many Dice you get to roll to try and accomplish a specific Task. Roll a 6 and Success is yours! If you do not manage to roll any 6’s you can choose to ‘Push’ your Roll which means you get to take your Dice Pool and Roll once again, but there is a price to be paid. Any time you Push a Roll you take 1 Point of Stress.
Stress in The Walking Dead Universe game is a two-edged sword. When you accumulate it you must add a number of Dice to your Dice Pool equal to the number of Stress Points you have. It represents the focus that comes from these situations and gives you more chances to roll a 6. However, should you roll a 1 on a Stress Dice, you have ‘Messed Up’ in the mechanics of the Game. This can have a variety of consequences from losing an item to offending an Ally or Enemy and at its worst you have attracted the Walkers.
Unlike other Games which allow you to wade through hordes of the Undead using all manner of weaponry and special abilities, The Walking Dead Universe puts you in control of a Survivor, a person who is often just trying to stay alive using whatever skills they can to do so from day to day. Toward this end your Character begins with a Drive, this is the idea, the need, the reason you didn’t freeze up and end up a Walker yourself. Your Drive is why you keep going in this
bleak and desolate world but it is not the only thing you deal with.
Every Character also has an Issue which plagues them, are you a coward at heart? Do you
covet another Survivor’s romantic ties to someone else in your Group? An Issue can also be
associated with an Item or even a Haven. Do you have property belonging to someone else? Is
your Haven a little too well supplied? Any of these can become a Challenge within the game if
you cannot resolve them in time and may lead to your Character becoming Shattered. Perhaps
you pick up a bad habit. An unhealthy habit. Or you start to hear things that aren’t there.
Luckily your Character also has Anchors within the game. These can be a staunch ally whose trust you have earned, a Family member you value greatly or perhaps someone whose skills you find reassuring to you in this terrifying world. You must take care though because losing an Anchor bears with it dire consequences for your Character. You will face a variety of Challenges throughout your days which range from mundane things like shoring up defences to outright Walker attacks or perhaps even interpersonal issues within your Group.
Combat in The Walking Dead is quick and brutal in most cases and is best avoided where possible. One way it is represented in the game’s mechanics is that there is no Health Pool as such. Your Character has three Levels of Health and when they are exhausted you are in a ‘Broken’ state and have suffered a Critical Injury which can range from a broken finger right on up to being disembowelled. Needless to say, Combat is something that should be chosen as a last resort in this Setting and it is represented very well within the Rules.
Something to remember is that there is no intrinsic ‘gain’ to killing Walkers. They do not provide Experience themselves. Character advancement comes from exploring and roleplaying in the world itself. While it is certainly noteworthy to survive a Walker attack there is no specific impetus to seek them out unless it is Story related which is refreshing in a game of this genre. Having covered some of the game’s basic mechanical concepts it is worth noting that all of these interesting Rules are designed to do one thing and that is to let you have a fun time roleplaying in this bizarre world filled with Walkers. This is where the Year Zero Engine really shines in this Setting as it seamlessly lets you experience all the perils of the Setting without overburdening you with details of complex Stat Blocks or slowing things down with hour long Combat Encounters.
This is a game about telling a story in a doomed world, about exploring complex relationships and interesting character arcs, with the entire latter third of the Core Book being devoted to the Setting is brought to life with evocative artwork by Martin Grip and Gustaf Ekelund that will impress any fan of this Universe. Much of the World Building portion of this Book is devoted to making the world a more relatable place and less of a fantastical one. There is even a table to generate a ‘Walker Past’ so you might find a Walker dressed as a Used Car Salesman with burnt hair or a Hospital Patient dragging an IV Pole.
As its own Setting, the Core Book provides you with the details for running a Game in an area just to the North East of Atlanta Georgia in the United States of America which is featured heavily in the opening Seasons of the Television Series. Tables are presented to help you generate Locations as needed should your Players do something unexpected, or to determine what they might find when Scavenging in those Locations, or even who they might find.. as NPC generation is also made available in Table Format.
If you aren’t sure that you want to try and create a long form Campaign in the Setting then you are in luck as there is a Survival Mode that you can employ where the Characters begin in the thick of a conflict and must struggle to survive a specific encounter. In the Core Book, there is an example of Survival Mode given called ‘The Golden Ambulance’ which can also serve as an excellent Campaign introduction should your Players decide they wish to continue exploring the world of The Walking Dead.
For the GM, the latter half of the book is your playground in helping you bring the world to life for your Players, several excellent maps are present in the Book and the GM is encouraged to place the game at any point during the events of the Television Series should they want to run something parallel to events in the show. Tables, while relatively few, are all beautifully laid out and easy to use with fairly well known rolling concepts such as D66 and even D666 in some cases.
Should you find yourself without a Group to get involved with the Game, there is also a Solo Play section with instructions on how to adjust the gameplay using Oracles and other tools to help simulate the world for a single Survivor, developed by Matt Kay for this Game it is nice to see that Solo Play Options are being provided for those who wish to play on their own. Free League has done this Setting a genuine service by pairing it with their Year Zero Engine and has created something that is truly intriguing in doing so.
You can find Free League Publishing online at www.freeleaguepublishing.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/FriaLigan.
“Geek of the North”
Jason is an old timey Geek, Nerd, and Gamer from the days of yore. Or the Early 80s if you prefer. With interests ranging from Video to Tabletop to Online Gaming he has been around long enough to have seen the Industry become what it is today. In recent years he has been one of the Founding Members on Victory Condition Gamings “The Chaotic Good Cast” and has also worked as a Freelancer at Conventions through VCG and on behalf of Free League Publishing.
Lately Jason has been a Cast Member for any number of ‘Actual Plays’ hosted by Victory Condition Gaming on YouTube which helps to showcase up and coming Tabletop Games with a focus on the more ‘Indy’ side of the scene. If it is out there as a Game, Jason has likely checked it out or plans to check it out as his schedule allows.
Jason lives in the Northern regions of Alberta, hence his status as Geek of the North, with his Wife and their dog, Moya. On Twitter he is @Hexeter , in fact in most online spaces if you look for Hexeter it is likely you will find it to be him.