HASSRA Leeds Newsletter - May - 37

As part of the club’s 2012 activities, we decided to run a Role Playing Game (or RPG as they are commonly called) and decided, due to their current popularity, to try and survive a Zombie Apocalypse.

Extract of the Introduction (From “Zombie Run” – By Great White Games) The world didn’t go to hell overnight. It took a whole two months. Saturday, July 2, 2005. Sometime around midnight, Eastern Time, the recently-dead started coming back to life. Any corpse that wasn’t dismembered, decomposed, or otherwise destroyed came back to life. Crawling out of their graves, stumbling out of morgues and funeral homes, the dead swarmed over cities and towns, attacking, killing, and eating everyone they could get their rotting hands on. We woke up Sunday morning, turned on our radios and TVs, went outside and picked up our newspapers, and learned that rotting corpses were wandering the streets, forcing their way into homes, attacking and eating people.

By the end of August, gangs had risen up to fill the vacuum left by the disintegration of centralized authority. By mid-September society had been reduced to isolated bands, scavenging to survive. You are some of the survivors. You found each other in the aftermath and banded together, pooling your skills and resources to increase your odds of staying alive just a little longer. You’ve holed up in the Baxter Building in downtown Manhattan, managed to secure it against the zombies and the roving gangs that have cropped up—even worse than the living dead, the living preying on the living, survivors killing and stealing from other survivors.

RPGs are different to most games as there is no board or playing pieces, instead the players (in this case the club members) take on the role of a specific character and act as that person within a set of circumstances and events dictated by the Games Master (GM). Stuart Wiltshire bravely took the role of GM (or Master Zombie) while the rest of the members take on the role of survivor. After creating our characters we were ready to go out and kill zombies and eat chewing gum, although with supplies dwindling there wasn’t much gum……

But you’ve only delayed the inevitable. The world doesn’t belong to you anymore. It belongs to the dead.

HASSRA Leeds Newsletter - May - 38

Cast

Lenny the mechanic (played by Stuart Barraclough) Lenny is a mechanic with a heart and a shady past. Loyal to those he thinks as friends but don’t get on his bad side…. More concerned about his pregnant wife than about the zombie apocalypse he is keeping a close eye on her condition.

Rev. Timothy Archer (played by Chris Knutton) Rev. Archer is an aging priest with a cast iron faith in his god and brimstone personality to match. He ministers to the spiritual needs of the survivors.

Fingers (played by Geoffrey Berkeley) Denzil, known in the press as “Fingers”, is a convicted murderer on the run after an accident during a prison transfer. After escaping, he holed up on a building site and was unaware of the zombie apocalypse until the world went to hell. He made it to the Baxter Building and, while not welcomed into the group with open arms, has made himself an important asset when it comes to scavenging.

Donovan (Non-player character – for now…) Before the world went to hell, Donovan was a prison guard and was well known among the inmates for his ruthless streak. Never one to mess around, Donovan talks straight and shoots straighter.

Chip Chip was a junior computer technician on Wall Street before the crash. While he isn’t very big or strong he is a competent runner, always away from danger. As he comes to realise the situation they are in he has been trying to overcome his fear of … just about everything.

Dr. Ivor Tinkle Dr Tinkle is a man of medicine, who is fond of a stiff drink and more so since escaping the clutches of the hungry undead.

Harry “the Hobo” Rutger A cross between Albert Steptoe and Rambo, Harry has lived on the streets for years, surviving by his wits. Unsanitary and often off in his own world, he has a habit of coming up with the goods when the need arises.

So, the scene is set and everyone’s scared.

Next month…. The survivors set out on a scavenging mission for vital supplies but in a world gone to hell who knows what they’ll find…

If you want more information or to join in then please contact either Stuart Wiltshire (email STUART.WILTSHIRE@DWP.GSI.GOV.UK) or Stuart Barraclough (email Stuart.barraclough@dwp.gsi.gov.uk).

Savage Worlds – Zombies - Session 1.

20th February 2012 – Room 1W36 Quarry House, Leeds

Characters Present – Reverend Timothy Archer (Chris Knutton), Lenny the Mechanic (Stuart Barraclough), Fingers the Ex-Con (Geoff Berkeley).

Characters otherwise engaged – Dr Ivor Tinkle (Martin Brown), Chip the Computer Technician (Paul

Wootton), Harry Rutger – Hobo Veteran (Paul Marshall).

Introduction (From Zombie Run – By Great White Games) The world didn’t go to hell overnight. It took a whole two months. Saturday, July 2, 2005. Sometime around midnight, Eastern Time, the recently-dead started coming back to life. Any corpse that wasn’t dismembered, decomposed, or otherwise destroyed came back to life. Crawling out of their graves, stumbling out of morgues and funeral homes, the dead swarmed over cities and towns, attacking, killing, and eating everyone they could get their rotting hands on. We woke up Sunday morning, turned on our radios and TVs, went outside and picked up our newspapers, and learned that rotting corpses were wandering the streets, forcing their way into homes, attacking and eating people.

On July 3, the President declared a national emergency, and Army and National Guard units started coordinating with local law enforcement to deal with the zombie threat. Other nations took similar actions. The World Health Organization, the Centres for Disease Control, and other scientific organizations around the world began studying the dead, trying to figure out what was animating them.

And for about a week, we held our own against the rising tide of the dead. But how do you defeat an enemy when your own casualties become his foot soldiers?

Maybe if we had been fighting a living enemy, a foreign invader, things would have gone differently. But facing our own dead, risen from the grave with no thought but to kill and devour us ... We panicked.

The situation degenerated quickly. It seemed as if for every zombie killed, two more rose. Scientists had no idea what was animating the corpses, but they did discover that it was infectious: a single bite would kill an otherwise healthy person and turn him or her into one of the walking dead. First came the riots and looting, then the killing. Law enforcement and military units fell apart. People turned on each other like terrified animals, everyone trying to save his or her own skin. And every person killed by his or her neighbour became one of them. Terror and panic spread. Riots flared in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and other major cities, forcing already beleaguered military and law enforcement to deal with the living as well as the dead. People began abandoning their homes and cities. Police and soldiers deserted en masse, and military and government chains of command fell apart. In one city after another, communications, power, and other services shut down. By the end of August, gangs had risen up to fill the vacuum left by the disintegration of centralized authority. By mid-September society had been reduced to isolated bands, scavenging to survive. You are some of the survivors. You found each other in the aftermath and banded together, pooling your skills and resources to increase your odds of staying alive just a little longer. You’ve holed up in the Baxter Building in downtown Manhattan, managed to secure it against the zombies and the roving gangs that have cropped up—even worse than the living dead, the living preying on the living, survivors killing and stealing from other survivors. But you’ve only delayed the inevitable. The world doesn’t belong to you anymore. It belongs to the dead.

Session begins in the second week of October, 2005.

The Baxter Building has been secured against raiders and walking dead. Lenny, Mickey Mckenzie and some of the more handy survivors barricaded the windows with tables and doors from the lower floors, disabled all the lifts apart from the service lift to the underground car park and put the car park shutters on a manual winch system to deter unwanted visitors. The ground and 1st floor stairwells were filled with furniture cast down from the upper floors to barricade them against intruders and the building was scavenged for food and drinks from the canteen, drink & snack machines and the refrigerators.

Rising quickly to around 20 or so survivors in the 1st month, your band has risen by another half a dozen or so over the last month, the last being Gordon Bister who pulled up in front of the building in his brown sedan 2 weeks ago. Your group has diverse skills and abilities and although you don’t

always see eye to eye, you realise that you are stronger and more able to handle the tests and horrors of the new world if you stick together. Your group is made up of the following individuals :-

Gordon Bister – Male Subway Guard Alice Brown - Aging Female Taxi Driver Greg Cole - Positive Male Registered Nurse Doug Parker - Male Park Guide Chico Caseli- Male Animal Caretaker Finch - Spotty Male Chemistry Student Darla Black - Young Female Social Worker Yvonne Callaghan - Experienced Female Attorney Bubba Jenkins - Placid Redneck Cook Pete Toombs - Young Male Bartender Ludmila - Pregnant Female Waitress - Wife of Lenny the Mechanic Rod Olsen - Male Health inspector Marcus Jones - Male Security Guard Micky McKenzie - Crude Male Engineer Diana Vale - Middle Aged Female Pharmacist Donovan Lynch - Heroic Male Prison Guard Quinn Jones - Tanned Male Movie Usher Bridget Platt- Lean Female Runner Joe Chaplin - Ex-Gun Shop Owner King - Rocker and Biker

However, with the strength of the numbers however, has come the inevitable strain on resources and food and supplies are starting to run dangerously low. The party decide to make a journey into Manhattan to search for supplies, but realise that they are going to need to arm themselves, not only for the journey, but for the rigours they may face moving forwards. They decide to approach the rest of the group, speak with Joe to locate his gun shop then make a journey there to scavenge for weapons, before returning with any food they can find. They decide that they should also borrow any weapons that the survivors are prepared to part with. Joe tells the group that his shop his 10 blocks east of them, but that he doesn’t think it will do them much good. After everything went to hell, Joe barricaded himself into the shop but roving gangs soon showed up and flushed him out by pouring petrol under his damaged doors and threatening to light it up. He escaped into the back alley way through the security door and tried to fight them off, but there were too many and as he fought his way clear he saw the remaining gangers working on the front shutters, so he expects the place to be gutted. Approaching Alice next, she is prepared to lend the group her Shotgun, in return for the promise of prune juice, which Lenny promises to make his top priority.

Yvonne is located, locked in combat with a coke machine that currently holds the upper hand. Once again, Lenny steps forwards with his trusty wrench and soon the foe is vanquished and its remains looted. Although she is initially reticent to part with her weapon, she eventually agrees to part with the M16, explaining that she recovered it from the body of a dead soldier, 2 blocks south at the corner of 42nd street. The group decide to travel there first before heading off to Joes shop. Next they approach Donovan – the prison guard. He is somewhat concerned at the thought of parting with his shotgun – especially to a group that contains an ex-convict, but he does agree to accompany them. Next they search for Marcus, the security guard and although initially frustrated the sharp eared Timothy hears the sounds of snoring coming from the janitors closet on the 4th floor opening the door, they find the slovenly chap snapping awake. In a change of plan, Reverend Timothy decides that he does not wish to carry a firearm and will instead put his faith in the Lord to protect him. The group therefore explains to Marcus that he needs to step up as protector for the building whilst they are gone as he has the only remaining pistol. Loading the weapons, the party take the service elevator down to the dark underground car park, wincing slightly as strains of “The Girl from Ipanema” wafts around the disparate band. They decide to venture out on foot and try to scavenge a vehicle as this will make less noise. Nervously crossing the dim neon lit car park, they winch open the security shutter, ensuring that the hidden winch handle to get back in is safely stowed, before the shutter ratchets closed behind them and they head off into the night, with the Reverend Archer assuring them that the lord will cradle them in his hand and provide for their needs. Emerging into the street in front of the building, they glance each way and find the way thankfully quite clear apart for a handful of dead ambling around at some distance. Jinking from abandoned vehicle to abandoned vehicle, they head south to the place where Yvonne recovered her assault rifle.

As they approach the junction they first happen upon an abandoned Humvee that has run up over another vehicle and impaled itself upon a set of railings. A quick search recovers a large survival knife and Lenny checks over the vehicle saying that he can get it running but that it might take him 90 minutes or so. At this point they hear the sound of a moped and ahead at the junction a moan arises at the sound. Hunkering down, the group see 9 rotting zombies stagger across the junction towards the sound of the small engine. The group remain hidden and are almost in the clear when the slowest zombie, dragging a foot sticking out at a 90 degree angle pauses as the others outpace him and he begins to stumble towards the group.

Realising that they will need to handle the threat quietly, whilst Lenny improvises a weapon from a salvaged piece of railing, Reverend Archer stands forwards and raises his cross, calling on the power of Christ to drive back the threat. Unfortunately the creature is made of sterner stuff and it shambles on. The creature lunges at the holy man who extends his long staff, tipped with a cross and holds the creature at bay. “Fingers” however puts his faith in the Louisville slugger he is carrying and circling around behind the distracted creature, brings the baseball bat down on the back of its head, dropping the creature once and for all. Moments later the moped comes into view flashing across the junction in the other direction, ridden by a young male with a look of terror in his eyes and wearing ragged clothing. Shambling behind him are over 20 zombies, moaning opened mouthed with vacant faces that drip with congealed blood and bearing wounds ranging from, bites and gashes to bullet wounds and missing limbs. What seems however to be causing him most distress, and what causes the whole group to curl that little more closer to their hiding places is a single Zombie that far from being a shambling mass of dead flesh, is sprinting behind the moped, almost keeping pace. Never before has anyone seen any type of undead that moves with such fluidity. Lenny considers taking a shot at the sprinter, but reconsiders as the shamblers continue to file past their hiding place and eventually the sound of the moped and the terrible moan fades to eerie silence. Moving forward to the junction they spot a covered military truck, and the obvious scene of a fire fight around it. Little remains of any fallen soldiers however, their remains scattered across a wide area by greedy grasping hands of the departed undead. Approaching the truck, Lenny gets the feeling that something is wrong and pausing for a moment peers suspiciously into the dark recess in the back of the covered wagon. Calling out quietly, the party raise their weapons as a moan rises and the tarp parts to reveal two dismembered soldiers dripping in gore. As the creatures tumble from the wagon, the party spread out around them and once again Reverend calls down the wrath of the lord upon the abominations. Obviously these undead must have been followers of another religion, and holding no truck with Christianity, continued their advance. Using their melee weapons, Timothy dispatches one of the creatures whilst Donovan strikes the other with the butt of his shotgun as Lenny holds it at bay with his improvised weapon. Searching the bloody truck, the group are happy to finds an assault rifle (unloaded) and fuel and some military rations and the Lord guides his servant to the mangled belt of the soldier where he finds the keys to the truck. Lenny checks over the vehicle and whilst it is low on oil, it does seem to be in working order. The group decide to follow the moped rider and then cut north to their original destination at the gun shop. Lenny drives as the others ride shotgun and they snake their way through the abandoned vehicles and blocked streets. The truck’s engine is loud and conspicuous, and as they drive along the abandoned streets, they see a steady stream of undead emerging from ruined buildings, to shamble after the much faster vehicle. These are soon left behind however and the truck picks its way steadily to their destination. At one point they spot the moped rider heading in the opposite direction in a parallel street but make the difficult decision to stay on target and head for the gun shop.

Arriving there shortly after 1pm, Lenny backs the truck up to the gun shop and the party approach. As Joe described, the shutter is bent upwards at an unnatural angle and the front of the shop is a charnel house, with the corpses of undead and raiders scattered liberally around. Approaching the store, half a zombie, still animate grasps at the party who give it a wide berth and approach the front of the store. Lenny however spots a “QWIKI-MART” 2 doors down and heads off to check it out whilst Fingers, Archer and Donovan investigate the gun shop. As the Reverend shines his torch into the dark interior, four shambling corpses can be seen staggering towards the survivors from within the shattered display cases, most likely attracted by the sounds of the truck arriving moments ago. Fingers blasts one of the creatures and blows a hole through its midriff, knocking the creature backwards a step but failing to kill it. Reverend Archer steps forward and once again castigates the creatures with the word of god, readying his staff in the off chance that the creatures prove to be heathens. Donovan is next to act, blowing one of the creature’s heads off. Lenny approaches the shattered windows of the QWIKI-MART and having no light source finds it difficult to see down the racks of shelves to the back of the store. What he can see of the shelves confirms that the place has been ransacked. Spending a little time scoping out the place, Lenny hears what he thinks is faint shuffling from the darkness at the back of the shop. Back at the shop, the Rev Archer, Donovan and Fingers all dispatch an opponent before searching the shop which proves to be badly picked over, in a store room at the back of the shop however they find a small cache of ammunition which they retrieve, and then they make their way to Lenny at the QWIKI-MART. As they approach they check over they hear the sound of shuffling feet getting louder and using the torch they illuminate the forms of two undead in shopkeepers aprons, stumbling out of the blackness. Around the same time, it becomes apparent that the sound of shuffling feet is too loud to be coming from within the shop alone. Turning to scan around them, they are shaken to see a horde of dozens of zombies pouring out of the intersection some 100 yards distant. The horde that had been attracted by the truck had finally caught up with them. Realising that time was short Lenny stepped through the shattered the shattered window and took up a position to crossfire on the emerging undead, whilst Fingers blasted one of the creatures in the head, dropping it like a stone, Donovan took aim on the second and the Rev Archer once again blasted the creatures with the holy words of Christ. Unfortunately the moans of the shambling horde, now rising to a crescendo behind him must have drowned out his words as two creatures before him continued to lurch onwards. His cries did however prompt movement above him and he spotted the face a living child, peer over the edge of the building from the single story roof above.

Donovan shouted that he would deal with the remaining zombie if the characters saved the girl. They quickly hatched a plan. Lenny would back up the truck next to the building. Rev Archer would climb onto the roof of the truck and get the girl to jump to him. Fingers would run through the building, through the store room at the rear and climb up the ladder at the back of the building to make sure that the girl jumped to safety. Lenny and the Rev ran off and began backing the truck up, as Donovan blew away the last undead shopkeeper. Fingers sprinted through the ransacked store heading for the back room. Outside the moans of the approaching undead grew steadily louder. The truck lurched to a halt outside the building and Rev Archer clambered up onto the roof, his old bones protesting at the effort. From his perch he could see the girl shivering, clutching a teddy to her, sitting in a pop up tent, on a “My Little Pony” sleeping bag surrounded by discarded candy wrappers and cool aid bottles. He called to her to come and jump down to him and they would save her. Fingers threw open the door of the backroom and literally ran into a pair of shambling corpses. Lenny jumped down from the cab and into the store and headed through the store to the back of the building, Donovan dived into the store and on the roof of the vehicle, the Rev Archer implored the child to jump to his arms, promising to keep her safe from the scary creatures. Looking into the kindly old mans eyes, the girl jumped, but wasted by lack of food plummeted down between the building and the truck. At the last moment, like the hand of god itself, Rev Archer leaned out and plucked the rapidly moving form of the girl from the air, pulling her and the bedraggled teddy bear to safety. At the rear of the shop, Fingers blasted one of the creatures, but the creature’s dead flesh absorbed the shotgun blast and the creature was momentarily shaken before lurching forwards once more. The other zombie grabbed the startled survivor and its claw like fingers raked a nasty gash down the side of his face leaving him shaken. Outside, Rev Archer clambered down into the cab of the truck, and bellowed to the rest that the zombies were 30 seconds away. Staggered back from the onslaught and turned to flee, but the at as he turned one of the zombies grabbed his left arm and sank it’s rotting teeth into the soft flesh of his forearm, tearing a chunk of flesh from the retreating ganger who staggered back into the main store. As the creatures shambled forwards to pursue him, Lenny opened fire with the scavenged assault rifle on full auto, lighting up the grim scene in strobed orange light and cutting both Zombies down. Fingers staggered back through the store, heading for the window and fumbling for the Bowie Knife. Donovan and Lenny backed out of the store, luckily finding both prune juice and engine oil in the process, just as Rev Archer bellowed that it was time to be leaving and fired up the truck. However one grisly task remained undone before the group could leave. As Donovan took up a firing position in the back of the truck, Fingers tumbled out onto the street and Rev Archer and Lenny gathered round to help him. Brandishing his knife he spat through gritted teeth that he was “bitten and wasn’t gonna become one of those undead bastards” as he yanked his belt from his trousers and pulled it tight around his upper arm. He held out the knife and said “somebody cut off my goddam arm before it’s too late”.

Rev Archer took the knife in shaking hand and as Lenny restrained him, severed the bitten arm above the elbow from the ganger, who screamed momentarily before passing out after around 10 seconds from the pain. Hastily wrapping the wound in material ripped from Fingers own orange jumpsuit, Lenny and Rev Archer, carried him to the back of the truck as Donovan started unloading his shotgun into the rapidly approaching horde.

As the moans of the creatures started to become unbearable, broken only by the retort of Donovan’s pump action shotgun, Lenny and Rev Archer sprinted for the cab.

Savage Worlds – Zombies - Episode 2.

7th March 2012 – Room 2E03 Quarry House, Leeds

Characters Present – Reverend Timothy Archer (Chris Knutton), Lenny the Mechanic (Stuart Barraclough), Chip the Computer Technician (Paul Wootton), Harry Rutger – Hobo Veteran (Paul

Marshall), Dr Ivor Tinkle (Martin Brown). Donovan Lynch (Heroic Security Guard – NPC).

Characters otherwise engaged – Fingers the Ex-Con (Geoff Berkeley).

This episode starts as the group recovers from the grisly task of amputating Denzel’s left arm, whilst the moans of the rapidly approaching zombie horde start to become unbearable. The stunned survivors are jolted from their inertia by the retort of Donovan’s pump action shotgun and Lenny carefully deposits the unconscious Denzel into the rear of the truck, his stump bound in a strip of his orange jumpsuit and dripping with blood. Rev Archer, carrying the young girl they had just rescued grunts with effort, his old bones protesting as he clambers up into the cab and starts the engine and moments later Lenny clambers up beside him and as the young girl hunkers down in the foot well, covering her ears as the truck lurches forward. Seeing the way ahead blocked by crashed vehicles, Lenny begins to swing the truck around to go back the way they came and the ride is smooth for a few moments until the vehicle meets the initial members of the oncoming horde and then the truck lurches and slews with sickening impact of the undead being mown down and crushed under the tyres.

Turning the corner, they are stunned to face a sea of undead and gunning the engine, Lenny slams the truck into them dead on. Struggling with the wheel, he does a masterful job of maintaining momentum and after a few tense, gore filled, bone crunching moments the blood spattered vehicle bursts free of the grasping mob and continues down the road, and the group collectively exhale in relief.

Their smiles are short lived however as the truck shudders once and the engine begins to sputter before cutting out – having sustained some unknown damage. Without power, the weight of the vehicle makes it slow rapidly and it rolls to a halt amongst a few scattered walkers, a few hundred yards beyond the edge of the main undead horde, which are even now turning and clambering over their shattered brethren to converge on the now stationary truck. Casting around for a safe haven and finding nothing suitable, it becomes obvious that every undead within earshot of the trucks journey to here are converging on their position, pouring out of every intersection and from the narrow alleys between the buildings and heading towards the truck in an ever decreasing circle of slavering, rotting fervour. The group start a desperate defence, bringing down one of the sprinting undead that bursts from the pack, along with a number of the closest shamblers whilst surveying the nearby streets and alleyways for a means of escape. An initial wave of the most agile creatures closes within range and the group begin to pick them off, hoping to buy time to uncover an escape route. Although they score numerous casualties, their ammunition begins to fall to dangerous levels and it seems inevitable that this attrition spells an end for the group. As things look darkest, Reverand Archer entreats the Lord God for deliverance and begins a rousing rendition of Jerusalem. Then seemingly as if his prayers were answered and with only the briefest of warnings, a passenger bus bursts through the walkers emerging from a nearby alleyway, turning away from the stranded survivors and scattering the approaching wave of undead. The driver however,

obviously thinks better of this route upon seeing the huge crowd of shambling undead ahead and braking sharply, the bus begins to reverse at an angle, obviously intending to exit the way they came. The Lenny, Donovan and Rev Archer start shouting and shooting their weapons to attract the attention of the female bus driver they can see through the window. Noticing them for the first time, the bus reverses at a wider angle towards the alley and to within 15’ of the immobile truck before coming to a halt. She cries out to someone inside the bus, before opening her window and shooting a nearby undead. As one, the doors and windows open and the people inside start shooting at the nearby zombies and shouting for the survivors.

Jumping down from the truck Donovan engages some of the scattered zombies, trying to draw them away from the others and shouting for them to get to the bus. Rev Archer gathers up the girl and weaving around snapping, slavering half zombie, jogs to the bus, breathing heavily. Inside the bus, Dr Ivor Tinkle, Harry the Hobo and Chip see the survivors make a break for it. Harry opens a window wide and jeers at the nearby undead with a cry

reminiscent of Albert Steptoe, before instructing the Rev Timothy to “pass the girly up here”. Initially concerned, the reality of the situation gives him little choice and he lofts the child into the relative safety of the bus. Dr Tinkle and Chip however are aware that the other side and rear of the bus are under siege as a number of undead begin battering on the bus and threatening to break in. Dr Tinkle throws himself against the door to keep it from opening, whilst Chip and the other survivors start thinning out the Zombies with gunfire, although they can only hope to clear a path in the face of the oncoming flood of shambling creatures. Outside, Lenny lofts Denzel over his shoulder and begins a slow but steady retreat to the bus, grunting at the dead weight of the unconscious man. Rev Timothy and Donovan screen him as they make their way round the front of the vehicle towards the door. Inside the bus, Harry rips a ceiling fan down from the roof and mumbling something sounding worryingly similar to “…. muppetshow ... cream cheese …. toothpick … ”, begins taping it to the end of a fire extinguisher. Chip meanwhile moves to the back of the bus with his golf club, where two zombies are battering on the door and the hinges are creaking ominously. The original survivors fight their way around to the doors, with Reverend Archer clearing away the closest creature with a prayer, his staff and the power of The Lord. Dr Tinkle opens the door at this point and shouts to the others that it is safe to come onboard. At the rear of the bus Chip opens the doors on a signal from Harry who fires off the fire extinguisher, launching the spinning fan into the surprised zombies, knocking carving a bloody swathe through them and knocking them back, covered in foam.

A this point with everyone onboard, the bus driver starts backing the bus down the alley, dragging the foam covered zombies along under the bus as they grab at the rear step. Chip steps forward with his golf club and with a cry of “Four!” removes them both from the step, pulling closed the door.

The survivors introduce themselves at this point. The leader of the new survivors, Greg Roman, introduces Maggie “Zippy” Alexoff (The driver), Jeremy Reeves (a short balding man fiddling with a radio) and his other companions (including Dr Tinkle and Chip). He explains what they’re doing, and invites the characters to join them. “We’ve been hiding in the bus station. Jeremy here has a short wave radio, and we managed to get our hands on a generator, so we’ve been listening for signals. A week ago we finally picked one up. It was fuzzy, lots of static, but it was a real human voice. All the way from Phoenix, Arizona.

Apparently there’s a group of survivors out there trying to rebuild. They’ve managed to secure the city, and they’re calling for other survivors to come join them. I don’t know if they knew their little signal was going to reach this far. Some of us thought it was too risky, others wanted to go, but ... well, today we picked up another signal, one that made up our minds and has been broadcasting on a loop ever since …… Listen (Jeremy tunes in the radio) :-

At 12:00hrs, October 12th 2005 (the day after tomorrow), the President has authorised four 15kt tactical nuclear strikes against the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, along with other selected critical targets. These once heavily populated east-coast cities are over-run, and whilst collateral damage to structures will be significant, the need to eliminate the heavy concentration of hostiles that have flocked to these sites is paramount. If you are en-route to the city or are situated within 30 miles of these targets, you are advised to evacuate with all haste and head away from the blast zones.

So we are heading out. We’re not sure what we’ll find out there, but at noon on Wednesday the president is blasting these bastards back to hell and anywhere else will soon be better than Manhattan.”

Game Ends.

Savage Worlds – Zombie Apocalypse - Episode 3 & 4.

Characters Present – Reverend Timothy Archer (Chris Knutton), Lenny the Mechanic (Stuart

Barraclough), Chip the Computer Technician (Paul Wootton), Harry Rutger – Hobo Veteran (Paul Marshall), Dr Ivor Tinkle (Martin Brown). Donovan Lynch (Geoff Berkeley).

Previously on Zombie Apocalypse After the world went to hell, a group of survivors holed up in the Baxter Building in New York. On a routine trip for supplies, one of the group, Fingers an ex-con, is bitten. Hoping to save him from dying and becoming a zombie, the group cuts his arm off and he passes out. On the way back to the Baxter Building, the group are helped out by other survivors who inform them that the US Army is about to launch several nuclear missiles at cities that have become overrun, including New York. After a short discussion, both groups agree to join forces and head out…somewhere… Side note – after disastrously playing Fingers in the first session, Geoff decided that if he survived the ordeal he didn’t want to play a one-armed character. He decided to take over control of Donovan the security guard whose plucky actions and lucky shooting saved the group several times earlier. We’re sure the decision had nothing to do with the many comments about Fingers being ‘arm-less and should be re-named “Finger-less”

Episode 3 – Escape from New York Part 1 - Preparations After introductions are made, the new bus survivors explain that that the bridges and roads are blocked and impassable. Similarly the underground is over-run and trying any of them is suicide. They have however scouted out the docks and they are relatively clear. As such, they were planning on using a raft to row across the Hudson and bring back a ferry moored on the other side, load up the bus and escape to the other side on that. The group agree that this is a good idea and the bus detours to the Baxter Building to pick up supplies and convince the other survivors to come along. Lenny and Donovan stay in the basement with the injured & unconscious Fingers, whilst the others go upstairs to talk to the others. Explaining that New York is about to be nuked proves an effective motivator and most of the survivors elect to join the bus trip to safety in Phoenix. Some however decide to cross the Hudson on the ferry, then head north to Canada. Alice, the elderly taxi driver, decides that she is done running and would rather stay here and end her life on her own terms. She explains that she is terminally ill anyway so it was only a matter of time anyway. She insists that Greg – the male nurse who was caring for her takes the bus and asks only that they leave her a little food and water. In the basement, Lenny and Donovan begin work reinforcing the bus, adding a makeshift ram to the front, securing the broken doors and covering the windows with mesh. During this time – Fingers quietly dies and then rises as a Zombie, lurching out of the bus he surprises the two and almost bites Donovan, before Lenny drops their ex-comrade with a blow to the head with his trusty wrench. Wrapping him in a sheet, they mourn the loss as they work … aware that time is against them. The following morning, everything is ready and the survivors load up the bus and the car.

Dr Tinkle suggests that he goes up and checks on Alice before they leave and whilst the others finish loading up the bus, he heads up in the lift. When he reaches Alice, he proceeds to rob her of her food and water before tying her loosely to her chair and heading back down to the bus. Climbing onto the bus, he explains to Greg that Alice was fine and was comfortable with a coffee. Part 2 – Setting off Firing up the engines, the convoy heads out. As they pull onto the street, Donovan glances upwards and spots Alice standing by the window and waving furiously. Pointing her out, Dr Tinkle is somewhat surprised, but thinking quickly explains that she mentioned she would wave them off and he waves back. Lenny and Donovan are unsure however, thinking it a little out of character and are discussing whether to head back and check on her, when the driver of the other car pulls alongside and offers to go back and check on her and catch them up at the dock. The party zigzag across town avoiding burned out cars, a tank and even a collapsed building, before arriving at the thankfully empty dock. Sticking to the plan, two of them raft out across the Hudson, avoiding a number of bloated thrashing undead at the edge of the water. After some tense moments in the centre of the river, they make it to the other side. Cautiously investigating the abandoned Ferry, they manage to clear a couple of zombies out of the lower decks, cast off the ropes and sail it back to the waiting bus, which rolls onboard. Waiting on the dock for some time, the car does not arrive. The undead in the water begin to moan at the proximity of the survivors and on the slip road to the near by street, shambling undead begin to zero in on their position and wander down towards the ferry. They decide to leave the raft and head across. As they get around half way across, they hear an engine and the car bursts onto the ramp pursued by a huge mob of Zombies. Screeching to a halt, the survivors wave frantically to the distant ferry, whilst others fire rapidly into the groaning wall of creatures shambling towards them and pushing them back against the river. Grabbing the raft and throwing it into the water, a couple of them try and dive into the Hudson and climb aboard, but the bloated undead grab them and the brown waters of the Hudson are soon red with their blood. The remaining survivors try and fight their way back to the car but soon their ammunition runs out and the sheer weight of numbers overcomes them. One by one they are pulled down and disappear in a snarling knot of zombies, who even at this distance are painted a vivid red. Turning their eyes away, Lenny frowns at Dr Tinkle for a moment, his distrust apparent momentarily, before heading off to comfort his wife. Driving solemnly onto the other dock, the survivors pick a route and head out in the Bus, trying to put as much distance as possible between them and the sites where the nuclear missiles will strike. After an hour or so however, they find that their planned route is blocked and they are forced to double back and take some back roads as time and diesel runs down. Part 3 – Leaving New York and a new foe After a number of blocked roads, collapsed bridges and dead-ends, they eventually manage to find a route and make good time and soon they are outside the 30mile blast zone. Before the group can relax, however, the bus is suddenly raked by gunfire and peering through the gaps in the covered windows, they see six bikers with guns circling around the vehicle and firing at the tyres. The rough road is throwing off their aim but they are firing wildly.

Leaping into action, Donovan climbs up onto the roof and the other survivors open fire as the raiders target the bus wheels and the driver. Despite loosing a tyre, thanks to some accurate shoting and even a thrown scalpel or two, the

raiders and their bikes are shot, injured, broken or killed and the surviving raiders veer off. Looting the dead, the characters manage to scavenge back some ammunition and a weapon or two from the bodies. Whilst the remaining raiders watch them from a distance before heading off out of sight. Slowly the terrain becomes more rural, with occasional settlements, abandoned and often burning. After around 4 hours, Maggie the driver shouts that she sees an abandoned truck-stop up ahead. Pulling off the road, they pass a sign reading “Welcome to Cammettesville”. Episode 4 – A new hope Part 1 – Backwoods, USA Emerging from the bus with guns drawn, Maggie checks the fuel lines and says that they should be able to get enough fuel to get them to Phoenix. The hose connectors are old fashioned, but she should be able to connect them up and pump the fuel manually although it might take a while. As they are facing a wait and as food and ammo are low and the water will only last for a day or so, the party decide to head over to a nearby Mall to scavenge, before heading into town in search of supplies. Ensuring that everyone is armed, Lenny offers Dr Tinkle an assault rifle with a full clip of ammo, smiling as the doctor accepts. Crossing the parking lot, dodging from abandoned vehicle to vehicle they approach the Mall. A few zombies shamble around in the distance but do not see the party. Reading the signs outside and identifying the units inside, they find that it contains a number of potential food and drink units and a gun shop. Sneaking around the building and peering inside, they see that the mall is overrun with zombies, with 40 or so wondering around corridors, but that the gunshop is in sight and decide that despite the danger, they really need to stock up.

Moving around the building they find a service entrance as close to the gunshop as possible and then sneak inside, making a break for it. After convincing them that discretion is a better option, they chop down a number of zombies in hand to hand without alerting the whole horde but eventually, numbers start to build and the characters open fire. At this point Dr Tinkle raises his assault rifle and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens and as the zombies press in upon him he discovers that the firing pin is missing. Glancing to

Lenny, he realises that Lenny has figured out what happened with Alice, meeting the mechanics gaze for a moment before dodging away from the zombie attackers. Part 2 – another one bites the dust As fate would have it, the duplicitous doctor manages to escape his attackers, whilst in a cruel twist of fate, Lenny is blindsided by a zombie emerging from a corridor in his blindspot and despite taking the creature down with a single shot, it proves a fatal delay as the main mob use the distraction to close in. Lenny is dragged down screaming under a pile of Zombies and although his trademark wrench is seen lashing around, and wreaking havoc, he is soon lost from sight.

Using the distraction, the rest of the group make it to the gun shop, where they pull down the shutters and hide, gathering up a huge amount of ammunition. Dr Tinkle realises his secret is safe for now and discarding his disabled weapon, he replaces it with a working model. When they are ready to leave they, peer through the shutters and find their way back to the doors they came in

through is blocked by the dispersing horde. They decide to make a make a break for the glass store-front. Turning a corner, pursued by a few of the more vigilant undead that spotted their escape attempt, they find their way once again blocked by undead who turn to face them and advance. Finding the doors to the nearby units locked and shuttered, they back off, opening fire at the undead. Despite inflicting significant damage, the remaining shambling undead draw closer and closer as they are forced to reload and it looks as if they may be trapped. Suddenly the ceiling tiles above them cave in and a “Sharp Dressed Man” in an expensive suit, carrying a large briefcase and a large bunch of keys drops to the floor. “This way” he shouts unlocking a security shutter to a unit and diving inside. Dodging after him, the characters follow him through the shop and out through the now unlocked door to the rear. This brings them out close to the main entrance, and they burst from the mall as the undead inside spot their escape and begin to follow. Sprinting across the car park, they head for the bus, where Maggie is pumping the hand pump furiously to refuel. The newcomer cries out a warning and points behind them and turning as they run, they see the glass store front shatter as a horde of undead pour from the building towards them and the waiting bus. Game Ends.

Tune in again next year for the next thrilling instalment ….. until then … Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New year from the HASSRA Leeds Tabletop Wargame, Boardgame and Roleplaying Club.

When we last left our band of survivors,they were sprinting across the car park ofthe mall in Cammettesville, heading forthe distant, refuelling school bus and ameans of escape from the horde ofshambling zombies that had burst out theshop fronts behind them.

As the survivors charge across the distance, thesharp dressed man who literally fell in with thegroup at the end of the last session, introduceshimself as Dominic and asks them to take himalong as payment for saving their bacon. Thegroup agrees and reaching the bus, Maggieexplains that it will take her a couple of minutesto finish off pumping the remaining fuel theyneed to get to Phoenix before uncoupling thehose.

The survivors spread out in a line and beginpicking off the zombies with their guns. Theymanage to hold the horde at bay, but theirgunshots succeed in alerting many more of theremaining undead in the area and despite theirsuccess the creatures press forwards to attack.

Maggie curses loudly at this point that the oldneglected pump refuses to turn off and she isforced to uncouple it still running, spewing dieselacross the truckstop and around the feet of thesurvivors, filling the air with diesel fumes.

Donovan screams at the group to stop firing orthey will blow everyone sky high and as Maggiefires up the bus, the survivors fight a desperatehand to hand holding battle whilst everyoneboards and closes the door. The hoard washes

around the bus in a wave of slavering, decayingfury, but the reinforced vehicle with it’s meshwindows and newly attached plow is equal tothe task and pulls slowly away, parting theundead like an icebreaker.

As soon as they are clear of the diesel, ReverendArcher begins bellowing sulphur and brimstonedamnation upon the shambling zombies andpulling a battered zippo lighter embossed with asign of the cross, he flicks it open exposing theflame and casts it from the rear of the bus. Itcircles through the air and bounces twice beforesome divine purpose leads it to rest in the slickblack diesel tyre tracks left by the bus. As theflames ignite, they rush back along their path,through the shambling horde of undead andback to the pipe. Suddenly a deep resonantthunderous noise can be heard … no felt …before whole truckstop disappears in a ball offlame as the underground tank ignites.

The cloud of flame expands outwards,obliterating everything within 300 yards of theexplosion immediately and the resultingshockwave shatters everything solid a further 200yards from that. The zombie hoard is reduced toash or broken twisted jelly and the bus wrenchessideways, battered by the blast and loosing afew of the rear windows, despite them beingmade of toughened safety glass.

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ZombiepocalypseEnd of Campaign Write-up

Maggie wrestles it back under her control asit speeds away from the rising mushroomcloud and the survivors’ nurse their ringingears as the road to Phoenix opens up beforethem.

As they speed out of town into the distance,high on a hill outside town, bathed inflickering red light and silhouetted against therising ball of flames, a group of figureswatches the carnage below.

Draping his arm around a girl and loweringhis binoculars the muscular leader of thegroup barks orders to the circled dozen or sobikers. Running to their bikes, the riders spintheir machines in a circle with a roar ofengines, throwing up a cloud of dust and un-sling their weapons, speeding off down theslip road in pursuit of the disappearing schoolbus.

Game and 1st season ends.

· Will the survivors weather the attack ofthe biker gang?

· What else lays in wait for them on theway to Phoenix?

· What will they find awaiting them whenthey arrive?

Answers to these questions and many morewill be found during the next season ofZombiepocalypse!

Our club will be taking a break from theZombie horror genre for our next Roleplayingcampaign and trying another genre (Sci-Fi,Fantasy, Superhero etc) before coming backto our band of survivors.

If you want to know more about our club orour activities (wargaming, boardgaming androleplaying), feel free to get in touch andmaybe come and see us at our “Have-a-goday” in the Quarry House canteen on 12th ofJuly where we will be demo-ing variousboardgames and wargames.

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Stuart Wiltshire - Club Chairman (2013/14)HASSRA Leeds Wargame, Boardgame and Roleplaying Club

Tel: - 0113 232 7234Stuart.Wiltshire@DWP.GSI.GOV.UKBest HASSRA Leeds Club - 2011/12

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Month Event Address Date

May-13Battlegroup North

http://www.yorkshireairmuseum.org/

11Yorkshire Air MuseumElvington

YorkYO41 4AU

Sat 11th & Sun 12th

Triples - Wargaming Conventionhttp://www.sheffieldwargamessociety.co.uk/#/sheffield-

triples/4554357668The English Institute of Sport, Sheffield Sat 18th & Sun 19th

UK Games Expohttp://www.ukgamesexpo.co.uk/

Hilton Birmingham MetropoleNational Exhibition Centre

Birmingham B40 1PP

Fri 24th toSun 26th

Jun-13Partizan

http://www.partizan.org.uk/

KELHAM HAL, KELHAMNEWARK NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

NG23 5QXSun 2nd

Jul-13 Have-a-go-day Quarry House - Leeds Fri 12th

Sep-13Colours

http://colours.org.uk/Newbury Racecourse Sat 14th & Sun 15th

Games Workshop Games Day Birmingham NEC TBC

Oct-13 Extra Life - 24hr Charity Gaming Marathon TBC TBC

Fiasco - Wargaming Conventionhttp://leedswargamesclub.webs.com/fiasco.htm

The Royal Armouries - LeedsSun 27th

(TBC)

Dec-13Recon - Wargaming Convention

Pudsey Civic HallSun 8th(TBC)

HASSRA Leeds Wargame, Boardgame andRoleplaying Club - Timetable of Events