Update your scare tactics: Make those Zombies worth it!

I would have to agree with the majority of gamers that the old 6 hp, shambling zombie that is easily hacked to bits isn’t very scary. Nor were my players intimidated when they initially encountered zombies in our last game. Five hours later, having narrowly escaped with their character sheets intact, their opinions had changed. So, for the GMs out there struggling to scare the ever stoic player, here’s a few ideas:

• Dispense with the slow shambling already. Make your zombies faster, stronger, and more capable than the average human player. What they lack in fine motor functions they can make up for in pure brute strength and ferocity.
• Make infection spread quickly. The British flick “28 Days Later” is a must for all who love the genre – take a page (scene?) from the movie and have infection spread in a wave – under ten seconds from the time of exposure – which is any body fluid contact in an eye, open wound, or mouth – and it suddenly makes zombies more intimidating. It also prevents hand to hand combat, making the disgusting creatures significantly more difficult to fight. Granted, there aren’t really zombies in this movie – but it is a perfect example for this article.
• Regeneration. The only thing worse than a zombie is a zombie that regenerates each time it eats. That means that you can hack off a hand and it will grow back when it feeds. One step worse might be zombie trolls.
• Overwhelming numbers. Three zombies are an inconvenience. Three hundred are a significant problem. Three thousand loping toward a city the characters are trying to protect is a game full of planning, defensive strategy, and panic.
• Use the emotional factor. NPC’s that characters have known well may be exposed and quickly turn into the enemy, highlighting how dangerous these creatures can be. Forcing the player characters to kill these once friendly individuals will increase the horror factor.
• Use gross descriptions. Instead of “There is a zombie shambling toward you”, use “There is a creature that may have once been human loping toward you at incredible speed. It’s blood-caked, blackened mouth leers at you and snaps in anticipation of warm flesh. You notice that the veined, blackened skin has a pallid tone to it, and the stench of death precedes this new menace.”
• Make your zombies silent. Zombies don’t breath. Breath is needed to talk. Therefore breath is needed to flow over the voice box and make that ridiculous moaning sound film makers are so fond of. Deadly, silent zombies that are completely devoid of all even the most human expression – voice – are that much scarier.
• Know your material. I highly recommend Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil, Resident Evil Apocalypse, and 28 Days Later as good examples of a more modern, more terrifying zombie.

Lastly, one interesting thing came to mind the other night as I was watching the director’s cut of Dawn of the Dead. In days gone by, horrible things that went bump in the night were the product of one demented individual, as in the case of Frankenstein. However, the new version of evil seems to be created by quite the different entity: the government. This common theme can translate to roleplaying games as well, adding an intrigue dimension to the horror you inflict on your players.

Imagine the twist you could add once the players discover that the monarch they have been protecting was involved in the creation of the zombies to begin with…