Dragon-Fall 2019 Walking Dead Narrative Games
At Dragon-Fall 2019, I prepared a 2 part Walking Dead All Out War narrative campaign. The first part was a twist on the scenario I have run numerous times before, and the second part was something totally different.
This was a city once, a long, long time ago. Now it’s a tomb filled with the restless dead that stagger and moan as if they were a rotting breath billowing out from the Mouth of Hell.
A few nights ago, a welcome relief to the unending song of the dead, a helicopter, somewhere above, then the sounds of guns, echoing all around. In the morning, a survivor, exhausted, but hopeful. Ex-military, with a plan to get out of here before it’s impossible. The only way it’s going to happen is if it’s done as a team, together, against the dead...
The group, led by by an NPC (military, last survivor of squad), was tasked with a few objectives. They needed to procure supplies, including food and water, as well as recover a grapnel gun being help by one of the NPC's fallen squadmates. They then had to move an anbulance to use it as a step ladder to get to the roof of Starbucks, where they could use the grapnel gun to scale the skyscraper. A helicopter awaited them on the roof to take them to safety. They had to hurry, as a huge zombie horde was right behind them.
We had a great group of players (including friend of CSW, Adam from Tabletop Minions). They took things cautiously, and used teamwork to keep each other safe while hunting for gear and supplies. They found a case of cliff bars in the Red Owl grocery store, and a case of water bottles in the taco bell. This would sustain them on their journey. They worked together to hunt down the zombified sqadmates, and recover the grapnel gun. The entire group worked to move the ambulance into place, and they protected each other while scaling the building. Everyone survived! By the end of the game, there were at least 100 zombies on the board.
Enjoy an image dump from the game:
The 2nd scenario unfortunately had no players, but I'll tell you about it anyway:
The survivor's heli took off towards an undisclosed safe location, piloted by the helpful NPC. Unfortunately, there were 2 issues. The helicopter did not have much fuel left. Also, during the scuffle, the pilot sustained a bite. He set the copter's autopilot, and parachuted away, not willing to risk the safety of the survivors...
The helicopter never reached its destination. It ran out of fuel, and began to descend rapidly. The survivors managed to get 2 life rafts inflated, and in the water. They jumped. The copter crashed into the water behind them. Luckily they were safe on the rafts. There was water as far as the eye can see... They drifted for hours, until... Off in the distance, they saw the hulking form of a shipping vessel...
It came out of the fog like a leviathan bearing down on us. Will it prove to be our savior? Or our doom? The once-proud bow cut its way through the water. There’s too much rust to make out its name but that doesn’t matter right now, we need to get aboard if we want to survive!
I don't want to spoil any more of this scenario, but here are some pictures of the layout:
Hopefully I will get to run this scenario at another event soon! As always, Dragon-Fall was a great time, and we raised a lot of money for charity. Keep an eye on the blog... We're planning to post a review of this sweet Black Site Studios Cargo Ship very soon!
Eilif says:
Fantastic looking tables!
Great to see that the cargo ship kit has already made it to the table, but what kind of ingrates were attending Dragon con that they would pass up an opportunity to participate in such a game?
Was hoping to at least stop in to Dragon Fall, but I had appointments on all three days.
jlopatin says:
The real issue is that all attendees on Sunday morning were participating in tournaments.
Next year we’re going to work with them on providing more reasons for people to show up and walk around without tournament participation.
Michael S. says:
Hi Josh,
I am also sorry no one did the ship scenario. I thought the model looked great when you bought it, a lot of possibilities there. I think about the scene from the movie Them were some of the giant ants had invaded a ship at sea. I like the idea of games on the water. I put together a Fear and Faith scenario for H.P. Lovecraft Deep Ones with a shoreline and small water craft which can be used as a way to escape.
Michael
Eilif says:
I think I can speak for most of the group that we’d be "onboard" if you wanted to run the boat scenario for us someday.
jlopatin says:
Can do! I am reworking the game as my big adepticon finale, so I will need to playtest it!
also, thanks for the dad joke, Karl.
-j