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Merric Blackman
Australia
Waubra
Victoria
Ramping up my reviewing.
Happily playing games for many, many years.
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The occasion of Peggy's birthday saw her husband, Martin, suspend his regular Eberron D&D 4E campaign for a week to run a special Savage Worlds scenario of his own design: Zombies on the Titanic!
We hadn't played Savage Worlds before. I was extremely pleased by how it played; just the right sort of system for this sort of pulpy action fun. I wouldn't replace D&D with it, as it supports a different style of game (I really missed hit points), but if I ever find myself in the need for a pulp action system, it'll be near the top of the list.
Four of us played in this session - Adam and Peggy played man and wife, with Rich and I playing as well. All four were passengers in the first class section of the Titanic, and we had a lovely dinner together. The captain couldn't join us, as he was dealing with an issue elsewhere on the ship. I regaled our party with a story about the Egyptian Mummy that was being stored on the ship. Peggy, her character somewhat of a ditz, got very confused about what a mummy was.
The fun thing about this was that unbeknownst to me, Martin was using the rumour of the Egyptian Mummy on the Titanic as the spur for the adventure. So, I was preparing everyone for the adventure without realising it. Cool!
Our dinner was interrupted as some of the waiters emerged from the galley with lumbering strides, and when they began attacking the other passengers, we realised something was wrong!
One of the really odd things about roleplaying in this adventure is that we were in 1912, and so we were roleplaying characters who didn't know what zombies were. Run this adventure set in 2011, and we have some savvy characters to play. In 1912, how many first class passengers would be up-to-date with the idea of zombies? Strange curses causing death, perhaps, but zombies? So we all played this a bit clueless.
So, with the rest of the passengers panicking and fleeing, we did the same. Seeing there were "affected" passengers all around the promenade, we barricaded ourselves in the gym. Surely someone was going to come and save us! We had been trying to gain access to the officers' areas, but they were locked away. (I was an old retired Naval Commodore, so I had a better idea of how to survive on boats that my companions. It involved having the biggest guns!)
By setting up enough of a racket, we eventually got the attention of a steward who unlocked the door, and we escaped to the (relative) safety of the crew section. Finding where the radios were, we dodged past zombies to reach them, only to find bloodstains and no sign of the operators. However, I knew Morse Code, so I sent out a Mayday message (CQD) to all ships. Oh, and we also hit an iceberg about now. Damn zombies!
Hearing voices outside, the rest of my companions went to investigate. They discovered a red-headed Irish man speaking Ancient Egyptian and commanding the zombies. Exactly how he was doing this was something of a mystery, but they were discovered and in a fight for their lives... and although they were eventually able to beat off the zombies, the Irishman had escaped and Rich's character was dead.
Martin had planned for this, of course, and so Rich started playing a 3rd class passenger who joined us immediately afterward.
I rejoined the group, and we set out to find a lifeboat, feeling it was past time we did so. Up the stairs we went, and we fought our way onto the promenade, where tougher and tougher zombies attacked us. The Irishman appeared again, and offered us a "safe way" off the boat (Martin later admitted that the "safe way" was death), but we refused, and we were back fighting zombies and trying to find a lifeboat. Most were gone - thrown overboard by the zombies. You can't find good help these days.
Adam was dragged down by the zombies, and Rich's new character - a sportsman - lay about himself with a fireaxe, hewing zombies down. I was stunned and dazed, and could barely defend myself. Peggy, seeing no other option, jumped over the side and - in the dark - tried to swim to a lifeboat. I emptied my revolver into a zombie and was dragged down, and Rich - after a last valiant stand - also met his end.
Peggy was very lucky - she survived her dive off the Titanic, and managed to find a lifeboat. Very, very lucky. As for the Titanic and the Irish Zombiemaster, they were sucked down to the depths of the Grand Banks, where I hope they remain.
Those wondering why there was an Irishman speaking Egyptian will be pleased to know that Martin revealed that he was a passenger possessed by the mummy's spirit. We could have learnt that if we'd investigated, but we were happy enough not to have done so.
So ended the adventure of the Zombies on the Titanic. Only Peggy survived to tell the tale - although I doubt she ever would if she wanted to stay out of a madhouse!
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Ramping up my reviewing.
