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All Flesh Must Be Eaten: A Role Playing Game of Survival Horror (Revised Ed. 2004)
Date Reviewed: 4-10-11
Critical Kobold Rating:
(5 out of 5 Dice)
Awesome Undead Apocalypse!
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Sarah’s lungs burned from the exertion as she rushed up the
stairwell steps two at a time. Her head swam from lack of air as she
gasped, and she stumbled against the railing as she reached yet
another landing. She didn’t even know what floor she was on anymore.
The horrid groaning, snarling sounds from below were the only things
keeping her on her feet.
The young paralegal couldn’t explain what was going on.
She’d been sitting in on a late-night emergency session with the
executives regarding the merger, which had lasted hours, when the
conference room doors banged open. Several of the cleaning staff
shuffled in, looking disheveled and a bit confused. The CEO had
gruffly barked that they were conducting business and needed to be
left alone, whereupon the janitors leaped upon him and began tearing
chunks of his flesh from his face and limbs with animal savagery.
The conference room exploded into frantic chaos, with
meeting members fleeing screaming towards the doors, but every time
a door was opened, it seemed that more staff – the accountants, then
the legal department – were prowling the halls, and would race to
jump onto the executives and rip into them with teeth and nails.
Within minutes, the conference room and surrounding hallways were
splattered with gore and inhuman snarling which quickly drowned out
the cries for help and screams of agony.
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Sarah had fled past Anthony from Human Resources, whose formerly
handsome features were caked with fresh blood and bits of skin, as
he sunk his teeth into the arm of Becky, the CFO’s admin assistant.
Sarah ducked into the stairwell, but caught sight of more staff
lumbering almost drunkenly up the stairs, preventing her from
heading downwards to the parking garage. They spotted her, and began
chasing her, their predatory enthusiasm giving them a surprisingly
fast gait up the steps. That’s all her brain
had had time to process, and now she threw herself against the
stairwell door to enter the floor and get to a phone. But her body
slammed hard into the unyielding door, knocking what little air she
had out of her, and she stumbled from it, falling onto her back on
the landing.
Sarah groaned, and when she opened her eyes, standing
above her was a fat man she’d passed in the lobby a few times, his
eyes wild, his shirt front stained with dark crimson. He hissed at
her, and spittle flecked with red foam sprayed onto the step beside
her. He tossed aside what looked unmistakably like a part of a human
lung, and reached for Sarah. The paralegal couldn’t even scream.
With a dull thunk, a fire axe arced down into the
fat man’s skull, splitting it wetly. The man swayed over Sarah, the
savagery gone from his face but his corpulent form refusing to fall,
even with the axe buried down between his eyes to his nose. A large
black man in an electrician’s grey jumpsuit was holding the other
end of the axe. The black man stepped over Sarah’s prone form, and
kicked the now-dead fat man squarely in the chest. The obese body
came loose from the axe and tumbled down the stairwell as the
ravenous horde of zombies from Accounts Receivable rounded the bend
from below, and they were momentarily bowled over by the crashing
form of the blubbery corpse.
The black man grabbed Sarah roughly by the arm and
half-dragged her into the doorway she’d tried to enter a moment
before. “C’mon!” he shouted, giving her no choice. He yanked her
through the door into a short hallway, and she watched the muscled
electrician and another slender man in a $500 suit and thin glasses
shove a vending machine back in front of the door as the undead
monsters outside reached it and began pounding on the other side.
The girl was then pushed down the hallway into a
spacious waiting room with modern furniture, but no corporate logo
behind the receptionist station. Sarah knew she was up in the higher
floors of the new skyscraper, the ones which hadn’t been leased out
yet.
“Are you bitten?” the burly electrician growled at her,
grabbing her arm in one hand to turn her about and look at her while
clutching the bloody axe in the other hand, still dripping with
fluid and grey matter.
“What? … N.. no,” stuttered Sarah, finally catching her
breath.
“Jesus,” said the thinner man in the suit, “Did you get
any of its blood in you? Did its blood get into your eyes or mouth?”
“No!” Sarah almost shouted. “I’m fine! What the hell is
going on?”
The thin man, likely a lawyer, laughed ruefully. “No one
knows. About three hours ago, the shit hit the fan. People all over
the city started attacking other people, actually chewing them up,
like wild creatures. The latest TV reports said they’d traced the
original attacks to the hospital over on 48th. Now
whoever gets attacked turns just as violent as the others. The whole
city’s gone to hell, and it’s getting worse.”
Just then, there was a loud crash from down a darkened
hallway behind the reception desk.
“Damn!” snarled the electrician, “They’re coming through
the drywall in the unfinished section of offices!”
The trio turned and started for the only other hallway
out of the room, towards the elevators, when four more salivating,
waxen-fleshed cadavers appeared from around the corner and spotted
the living bodies. One was a hot dog vendor who worked every day
outside the office building. He was missing one eye and part of his
face. The black man hefted the axe over his shoulder, and the lawyer
reached towards a couch and lifted his makeshift weapon: the slicing
arm of a paper cutter from the copy room on floor twenty-two.
“There’s no way out,” he muttered. “All three hallways are filling
with goddam cannibal freaks.”
Just as the snarling forms began to lurch closer, there
was a ding from behind them in the hall. The four zombies turned as
light filled the hall from around the corner from where’d they’d
come.
“Was that the elevator?” Sarah whispered.
A moment later, a wiry Hispanic man sauntered around the
corner, behind the creatures. They spun and started towards him. The
man had some sort of tank strapped to his back, perhaps propane, and
there was a hose running over his shoulder to some sort of
jury-rigged nozzle, to which a Zippo lighter was duct-taped. As the
zombies rushed him, the man snapped the lighter flint, and raised
the nozzle. “Oye, pendejos,” he called happily, “Come get
some!” Then a whoosh, and a roiling gout of flame engulfed the
undead from the makeshift flame-thrower. The three living people
shrank back from the heat, and ducked behind the reception desk.
When it was over a minute later, the four charred and
smoking husks lie still on the floor, and the stench of burning
flesh was putrid in the air. The three looked over the desk at the
Hispanic. He smiled back.
“Sí, amigos, “ he said, “They keep going if you
just cut off an arm or leg, but if you cook them, they burn real
nice.” He sighed and took the tank from his back. “But, I am out of
fuel.”
That’s when the hall behind them, from the new section
of offices, began to echo with the thumping of many charging feet.
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Welcome to the world of All Flesh Must be Eaten,
the game of modern survival horror set against the backdrop of a
zombie apocalypse! And dudes, if that sentence doesn’t tell you all
you need to know to get into this game, then there’s nothing I can
do for you.
The game engine is powered by Eden Studio’s Unisystem,
my personal most favoritest set of game mechanics of the last
decade. I described the game system in my
Buffy
The Vampire Slayer RPG review, but that game uses the
Cinematic version of the Unisystem rules; AFMBE uses the
Classic version, which is about 90% the same. The main difference
between Classic and Cinematic is that Classic is more detailed. It
has a lengthier list of Skills, Qualities, and Drawbacks, and
there’s more differentiation in things like weapons and equipment.
For example, while Cinematic has the skill “Guns” to cover every
firearm ever made, Classic has several individual gun skills,
including handguns, rifles, shotguns, heavy weapons, grenade
launchers, etc. Classic also has no Drama Points which players use
to alter the game (for re-rolling dice, or negating damage, for
example.). However, if you’re familiar with one version, you can
learn and use the other version in almost no time at all, and mix
and match rules to your taste. |
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There are three broad character types to base a new PC on:
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Norms
represent the average joe. These guys get eaten regularly in
your standard zombie movie.
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Survivors are more hardy,
ass-kickier people. They make zombies work hard for their
dinner.
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The
Inspired are basically in
between; normal folk who have access to supernatural talents.
Priests and holy men, usually.
Your GM will decide which type is available to you, depending on the
feel of the game. For grittier, scarier horror campaigns in the vein
of Night of the Living Dead, where there’s a real chance your
PC will end up as zombie chow, Norms are the … uh, norm. But if you
want a more action-adventure campaign, like the Resident Evil
movies, then Survivors are the way to go. If you want magic and holy
miracles in your game, then Inspired are the conduits of the
mystical mojo. It’s entirely possible to play a group of mixed
Norms, Inspired, and Survivors, but bear this in mind: Survivors
start out more physically powerful and with more skills, which make
them a stronger character type right from the get-go, and an
Inspired, while about as physically adept as a Norm, wields magical
talents that give them a serious edge when dealing with a world
filled with undead nasties. A player with a Norm might feel
overshadowed if they keep company with too many Survivors and
Inspired.
Anyway, you get an allotted number of character creation
points depending on your PC type to buy up scores in six main
attributes: Strength, Dexterity,
Constitution, Willpower, Intelligence, and
Perception. The abilities are
all rather self-explanatory, as is when you’d use them in a game.
Your beginning scores in these attributes range from one to five,
with a normal human averaging around two in any category. Scores can
eventually be raised above five, but that’s far above the normal
human capacity, so it can only be done by spending experience points
later in the game.
Once you choose your main stats, you’ll have some
Secondary Attributes that’re based on those primary ones. You
determine Life Points, which represent the damage you can
absorb before passing out or dying. Most Norms average around 30
Life Points, and Survivors may have 45 or 50 LPs. You also have an
Endurance score, which is used up as you engage in long-term
strenuous activity such as building barricades or hauling ass out of
a zombie-filled city on foot. When your Endurance is gone, you’re
exhausted and must rest, or you’ll eventually pass out and collapse.
How far you can get before doing so is based on your Speed
score. Finally, there’s your Essence score, a measure of your
spiritual attunement with the universe. This is really only used by
the Inspired for channeling their magic, but others might have their
Essence affected by said magic, or by some zombies’ special powers.
Since it’s related to your life force, if your Essence ever becomes
depleted, you can die.
Next you can choose Qualities and Drawbacks.
Qualities are beneficial and cost character creation points, but
Drawbacks are just that, and give you points for accepting some
unpleasant side effect. They’re basically any personality trait or
characteristic that isn’t a learned skill. Being artistic,
charismatic, or hard to kill are Qualities, while being cruel,
addicted to drugs, or lazy are Drawbacks. Each one has an effect on
your PC during game play, so be careful about which ones you want.
Points gained from choosing Drawbacks can be spent to improve your
PC in other ways, whether it’s getting more Qualities, or boosting a
skill or attribute score some more.
After that, it’s on to Skills. You get a separate
pool of character points to buy skills with, but the idea is the
same as with Attributes: you spend points to buy levels. When using
a skill, you add your skill level and the attribute that the skill
check is appropriately based on to get a total skill score. The
attribute score you add may vary according to the circumstances of
the skill use.
For example, when using the Guns skill to blow the head
off of a slavering cannibalistic taxi driver using a shotgun, you
add your Dexterity score to see if you hit. However, if you’re
trying to repair the bent firing pin of a 9mm Glock pistol, you may
be rolling your Guns skill with your Intelligence score.
After that, most characters are done, and ready to hit the mean
streets of the zombie apocalypse! If you have an Inspired character,
though, you’ll have the extra step of choosing your supernatural
talents, which you’d spend your points on in place of a few skills.
Magic of a divine nature falls under the heading of Miracles, and you can spend your PC points to buy things like
healing magic, prophetic visions, or shooting holy fire from your
hands with which to righteously burn the undead into crispy chunks.
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No matter what the task is in Unisystem, from
dismembering a zombie in combat using hedge clippers to making a map
of downtown on an Etch-A-Sketch, the resolution system is the same.
(Um, it’s unified. Get it?) You sum your relevant Attribute score to
the rating of whatever Skill you’re using, and then roll a single
ten-sided die and add the d10 result to your sum. (If you’re not
using a particular skill, you generally just double your Attribute.)
Anything totaling over a nine is a success, basically.
Example:
Ron the car wash employee has fled into a warehouse to hide with
his partner, Eddie, after bloodthirsty zombies appeared in town.
Eddie is jumped on by the gnarly zombie of a former warehouse
forklift driver, who’s now trying to chew on Eddie’s throat. Ron
quickly grabs the zombie from behind and attempts to yank him off
Eddie, because Eddie owes him twenty bucks. Ron has a Dexterity
score of “2”, and a Brawling skill score of “3”. His total so far is
five, so in order to successfully pry the slavering undead off of
his friend, Ron’s gonna have to roll a four or better on a d10 to
meet the standard target number of nine.
The higher your total is above nine, though, the better
your result. Roughly every two points above nine adds a “success
level” to your outcome. Higher success levels can mean added damage
from attacks, or better protection from defenses, or the faster or
more accurate use of a skill. The circumstances and your wise and
benevolent GM will dictate the exact benefits of extra success
levels.
There are of course various modifiers for range, poor
weather, crappy equipment, or using a skill without the appropriate
gear. (Ever try to suture a hemorrhaging puncture wound with just
dental floss and a stick pin? Not pretty, Bones.) The complexity
level of your game will decide how many of these modifiers you want/
need to use for routine tasks, but for the most part, modifiers will
run between -2 and +2 for a given situation.
And that’s all there is to it.
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In AFMBE, there’s generally
some sort of outbreak of ravenous brain-eating zombies that run amok
across the land, with your intrepid (or perhaps quite trepid) PCs
fighting for survival. The rule book provides an entire chapter for
the GM about creating zombies; what strengths and weaknesses they
have, what abilities they possess, how fast they move, if and how
they infect others to become undead, and of course, how to take ‘em
out. Usually a good shot to the noggin will drop a walkin’ dead, but
not always… |
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AFMBE provides a total role playing game package
in one sweet volume, including stats for several civilian and
military vehicles, as well as rules for chases, equipment lists,
weapon and armor stats, and many complete sample pre-gen characters
to use as archetypes. The material in the GM section covers
environment, optional game rules, fear checks, healing rules, notes
on technology levels, poisons, etc. If you’re having problems
coming up with a good flesh-chewing background, the book offers
several “Dead World” campaign ideas, which each entail several pages
of background, setting, plot points, world overview, and zombie
stats to get you started. Any of your favorite zombie films can be
mimicked using AFMBE.
The campaign could be about sheer survival, if your PCs
are everyday Norms just trying to eke out a living in their suburban
‘hood while not getting snacked on by their pasty neighbors. It
might be a military game, where your PCs are Survivors in an elite
zombie-killing squad, or maybe a search and rescue team for
civilians trapped in city buildings deep in undead turf. Perhaps
there’s a cure for the infection, and your PCs are part of the
research team working in a lab where “specimens” are caged. (Hard to
see how anything could go wrong there, eh?) If you have Inspired
types, then magic and paranormal may be the order of the day; maybe
you’re a band of holy warriors for a church or divine order whose
task is to destroy the undead menace on Earth, using holy water and
calling down miracles from Heaven. The game can really go any
direction that sizzles your sausage.
After every game, players will earn maybe 2-3 Experience Points for
their brave characters (if any still remain alive). These can be
used as in most other point-buy games, to spend on increasing
abilities, or acquiring new Miracles, or improving skills or
learning new ones. Some Drawbacks can be bought off with XP over
time, and a few Qualities may be purchased with XP after PC
creation. It's possible in this manner for a Norm to advance into
the Survivor range of skills and stats, if she lives long enough to
reach that pinnacle.
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I love the Unisystem. It’s complete, simple, malleable,
intuitive, and fast. It’s worth picking up one of the core books
just to have the system, even if you don’t plan on running a
campaign in that particular genre. You could easily do any sort of
monster/ horror game with AFMBE, but since it’s a complete
rules set, you don’t even need to use zombies or any of the horror
trappings. You could literally run any game you have in mind with
some tweaking. But, add a few of the other core books to your
collection as I have, and your choices multiply exponentially.
This kobold’s shelves have a special place for my
Unisystem books. I can mix sci-fi, fantasy, historical, espionage,
occult, pulp, suspense, swashbuckling, Western cowboy, Eastern
wuxia, or any other random
weird-ass background that I think up based on the interchangeable material
provided in the books. While it's all written for zombie games, if
you simply ignore the zombie material, you've got an amazing generic
game system that can handle anything.
The fact that this particular core book sparked an
entire line of zombie setting sourcebooks in the AFMBE line should tell you how good it is. And
really, who doesn’t love a good post-apocalyptic undead-fest?
Eden Publishing went through some
dead time (ha! ha! Get it?) when they weren’t producing any material
for a while due to business issues they needed to sort out. Even
besides that, though, they’re legendarily slow to slap more books on
the game store shelves. Release dates come and go for Eden like
bullets past the heads of onrushing zombies. So as fun as their
stuff is, it’s aggravating as hell to wait for other goodies. I
encourage you to get into their game lines, but you must be willing
to be patient for further product. Seriously patient.
For gawd’s sake, man, it’s
flesh eating
zombies!
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