The release of the trailer for World War Z inspired me to read the book of the same name before the film’s version could burn its way into my brain. It was well worth it; the book’s a fantastic read that provides a wide-ranging, highly personal view of the Zombie Apocolypse. It also inspired me to see what the current state of Zombie RPGs is for a possible Knights of the Dinner Table column.
I’m looking for more suggestions, you can send your suggestions to nuketown@gmail.com.
Published Games
- All Flesh Must Be Eaten: The classic UniSystem-powered zombie game
- The Shotgun Diaries: John Wick does the zombie genre.
- World of the Dead: Part of the “War of the Dead” universe and a sequel to the chapter-by-chapter “War of the Dead” PDF zeries.
- Hot War: The Cold War goes nuclear in the 60s, and all manner of horrors are unleashed upon the world.
Fan Creations
- Dead Earth: Zombies!: A home-grown d20 zombies campaign
- Zombie Cinema: A small press zombie RPG
- Zombies!!! RPG: A fan take on an RPG for the the popular Zombies! board game
- Dead Weight: Zombie hack for Apocalypse World
- What RPG best models a “World War Z” zombie apocalypse?: Good StackExchange post discussing the best RPGs to run a Zombie game.
- 7 Tips For Running an All-Zombie Campaign: Suggestions on how to run a D&D 4E zombie game.
- Zombie Rules (D20 Modern Variant Rule): Fan-created varient rules for d20 zombies.
Zombie Inspiration
- Zombies!!! Board Game: A long-running Zombie board game, now in its second edition.
- Zombie Run!: Not an RPG, but a running app for the iPhone in which zombies pursue you on your daily job.
- The Zombie Survival Guide: Written by Max Brooks, author of World War Z.
- The Walking Dead: The Game: I’ve heard nothing but good things about the iPad game for the Walking Dead, which forces you to make the same sort of gut-wrenching decisions as in the TV show and comic book. Also available for Xbox 360 and PS3.