Dawn of the Dice of the Dead The zombie apocalypse is in full swing and the chaos and carnage is getting worse everywhere around the world. It appears that drastic measures will soon be taken by the ad hoc U.S. government in order to insure that at least some of humanity will survive. Small groups of uninfected survivors from around the country, referred to as P1 groups, will be rescued and flown to a remote island where they will try to rebuild a new civilization for humanity. Your group of survivors, deemed worthy of P1 status by virtue of their combined scientific and military credentials, received the final transmission with the instructions this morning... You are to get to high ground somewhere in your current vicinity and try to remain safe until 24 hours from now, when helicopters will scour the area looking for you. A unique color code has been given to each P1 group in different areas. Your code is the letter X in red, with blue dots in the four spaces of the X. If the helicopters do not see that code clearly displayed when they spot your group, they will assume that you are not a P1 group, and if the code is not correctly colored, they will assume that a civilian survival group is trying to take advantage of the P1 status, but didn t get the proper information about the colors (false codes and colors have been circulated to distract non-p1 survivor groups). In either case, the helicopters have orders to fly on, and you will be left behind. That won t be good for you... As you look out across the town from your current safe house, which is becoming less safe by the minute, you see zombies swarming everywhere. There are some hills nearby that would make good pickup points for helicopters, but the likelihood of surviving out there is terribly small. But then you see that one location has a large roof that is completely free of zombies... the Mall! You suggest it to the group but there are some concerns... Even if you make it there, it might be difficult to survive long enough to make it to the roof, as surely the inside of the mall is crawling with brain-eaters... And you wouldn t be able to spend too much time focused on fighting off zombies, as you ll need to have enough time to get the color code painted or displayed up on the roof... It ll probably take most of your rounds of Ammo and much of your remaining strength and energy just to get to the mall safely... But if the place hasn t been ransacked too badly by looters, which it probably has, then there just might be some useful supplies available there. Well, does anybody have a better idea? No? Then off you go... REQUIREMENTS The map and tracking sheets. Several 6-sided dice. Three different 8-sided dice (optional). Pen or pencil. Cubes in three different colors (6 blue, 6 red, 12 yellow) and a bag for them. Coins/markers. SET UP Place one each of the 8-sided dice (or colored tokens) just outside any two of the four DOOR locations on the Main Floor of the mall (each must be at a different DOOR), one with the 5 side facing up, one with the 6 facing up and one with 7 facing up. These are your survivor groups. So you made it to the mall, but at what cost? When you left the safe house you led a group of 44 survivors, and now there are only... well, you don t even know, exactly, because you decided to split up into groups and head for different entrances, so you won t know how many of the others survived. That may be just as well, though, as there probably wasn t enough room in the helicopters for 44 people... But still, it was a brutal journey from there to here and you know at least half of those 44 perished on the way... It took six hours to cover only two miles, your ammo is almost out, the batteries in your flashlights have long run out, you haven t slept well or eaten well in days and are completely exhausted and hungry, and you have a lot to do in the next 18 hours if you hope to get out of this town alive and enjoy a new life on a tropical island. From outside the mall entrance you can see a few zombies shambling around inside... maybe there aren t that many to deal with, but this is just one side of the mall, so it s hard to say how many there really are throughout the building. It sure looks like a mess in there, but you ve decided that while you re there you can t afford not to search every store for valuable supplies. Just be careful not to touch any rotting bodies or, well... you know what the infection can do to people. In any case, you re about to find out exactly what s inside, for better or worse...
SURVIVORS The game includes three different groups of survivors, beginning with 7, 6 and 5 survivors each. There may be some uninfected people holed up in the mall, and some of your previous survivor group might still find their way into the mall, so it s possible that you might gain a few survivors while you re there. However, a single survivor group can never have more than 8 people in it, and if a particular group runs out of survivors, that die is removed and that group is considered gone for good. GAME TURNS Each game turn will be split up among the different survivor groups that are still on the map. Once all available survivor groups have taken a turn of their own, then one whole game turn is considered finished, and one box on the time clock should be checked off. (Note: A group consisting of only 1 survivor is still considered a group.) INDIVIDUAL TURNS The survivor groups may each take their turns in any order on any particular game turn. To take a turn for a group, roll 5* white dice (hereafter referred to as the survivor dice ), 1 red die ( zombie die ) and 1 black die ( scavenger die ). The red zombie die is immediately resolved to add dice to the Zombie Fight Pool, and any 1 s rolled on the white survivor dice are immediately placed into the Zombie Fight Pool, but the remaining dice may be either locked, unlocked or rerolled up to two more times. After three rolls at the most, all dice are considered locked where they are. Once all dice have been resolved, reduce that group s Energy rating by 1. *If a particular group has less than 5 survivors remaining, they roll the number of white survivor dice equal to their number, instead of 5. They can never roll more than 5, though, even if they have more than 5 in their group. RESOLVING THE DICE Zombie Die (red) Immediately place a number of dice into the Zombie Fight Pool based on the Zombie Die s number: 1-2: 1 die 3-4: 2 dice 5-6: 3 dice and lose 1 Energy (this is in addition to the Energy that is always lost at the end of the turn) Survivor Dice (white) 1: immediately place this die into the Zombie Fight Pool any time a 1 is rolled (may not be rerolled!) 2: reduce Energy by 1 3: move 1 space 4: move 2 spaces 5: add 1 die to Survivor Fight Pool 6: add 1 die to Survivor Fight Pool Scavenger Die (black) 1: immediately take one Infected Marker (this may be rerolled after the Infected Marker is taken) Note that there can never be more Infected Markers in a group than group members. 2: find one survivor (may add to group if group has less than 8 current survivors) 3: find 1 Food (+1 Energy) 4: rest for a few minutes (+1 Energy or +1 Strength) 5: find weapon/ammo/resolve (+1 Strength) 6: move 1 space or add 1 die to Survivor Fight Pool LONE SURVIVOR RULE If there is only one remaining survivor in a particular group, they will only roll 1 white die, but the white
die and black die are both doubled in terms of their strength for movement and fighting (everything else is counted the same). MOVEMENT A survivor group may move their die up to the number of movement points they rolled for, but may disregard excess movement if desired. A moving die may end its movement in the same space as one (and only one) other survivor group. Place one die on top of the other, if necessary. The Roof The Roof is considered a wide open space with no movement restrictions, so any group that moves onto the Roof is considered to be on the Roof somewhere. The spaces for the color code do not need to be moved into... simply place color cubes into their respective spots when on the Roof. SEARCH SPACES A survivor group ending its movement on a SEARCH space may attempt to search in that location. For every survivor in the group, roll a die. Each store has a different search rating for successful rolls, and they each have limits on the number of total successes possible. Each success provides some type of resource or benefit, depending on the location. Add resources gained to each particular group s section of the tracking sheet. A group may stay at the same location and search on successive turns, but they must still take a regular turn each time and fight off any zombies, etc. They would just ignore any movement dice rolled for that turn. Every location in the mall must be searched at least once during the game (the search doesn t need to be successful). Place a marker in a location once a search has been made there to indicate that it has been searched. Stores may be searched more than once... resources may be found on later searches that weren t found previously... but one search per location, performed by any one of your survivor groups, is sufficient for the purposes of the search requirement. (Note: Resting at the Mattress Store counts as the search for that location.) The Search Spaces provide resources as follows (successful search roll target is in parenthesis, followed by the maximum number of successful searches allowed during one search): Clothing Store (roll 5-6, max 3 successes) There are two Clothing Stores. In each Clothing Store, when you make a successful Search, you draw a number of color cubes from the bag equal to the number of successes you had. These are colored shirts that you can use to display the P.1 code, and must be carried to the Roof. Restaurant (roll 4-6, max 3) The Restaurant can be scrounged for food to help regain Energy. For each successful search in the Restaurant, gain 1 Energy. Electronics (roll 4-6, max 4) Batteries for your flashlights can be found in the Electronics Store. For each successful search in the Electronics Store, gain 1 set of Batteries. To use your flashlights, reduce your Batteries total by X to roll X extra dice when Searching. Shoe Store (roll 4-6, max 3) Better shoes and fast sneakers can be found in the Shoe Store. For each success when searching in the Shoe Store, gain one Speed Point. A Speed Point can be spent at any time to move one space. Book Store (roll 5-6, max 4) Books containing knowledge about how to kill zombies, use weapons, build barricades, etc., can be found in the Book Store. For each successful search, gain one Knowledge Point. Knowledge Points
may be spent to re-roll any single die at any time. This may include the red Zombie die and the black die when a 1 (Infected) is rolled. The new result after the re-roll must be kept, unless another Knowledge Point is spent to re-roll again. Any re-rolls using Knowledge Points do not count toward the total number of rolls for survivor dice rolls, combat rolls, etc. Food Court (roll 5-6, max 2) Some of the Food Court shops contain Food to help regain Energy. For each successful search in the Food Court, gain 1 Energy. Costume Shop (roll 4-6, max 3) In the Costume Shop, you can find helmets to put over your heads to obscure the scent of your brains, as well as makeup to have your survivors look like zombies, confusing the real zombies. For each successful search in the Costume Shop, gain one Disguise Point. Disguise Points can be spent when encountering zombies to remove one of the dice from the Zombie Fight Pool. Clinic (roll 4-6, max 2) In the Clinic, there are medical supplies that can help to heal wounded and infected survivors, and to revive tired survivors. For each successful search in the Clinic, gain one Medicine. One Medicine can be spent to increase Energy by 2, or to remove one Infected Marker. Mattress Shop (n/a) In the Mattress Shop, you can rest to regain Energy. You do not make a search check when you stop on the REST space in the Mattress Shop, but simply gain 2 Energy immediately. Sporting Goods (roll 4-6, max 3) In the Sporting Goods Store, you can find guns and ammo, as well as hockey sticks and baseball bats and other useful weapons. For each successful search in the Sporting Goods Store, gain 1 Strength. Home Supply Store (roll 4-6, max 3) The Home Supply Store contains wood and hammers and nails and other materials that are excellent for building Barricades. Hammers, nail guns and crowbars can be used as weapons, and Batteries are also available. For each successful search in the Home Supply Store, decide whether you want Barricade Materials, Batteries or Strength, and take one of that resource. Department Store (roll 6, max 2) In the Department Store, you can find just about anything found in the other stores, but the supply is more limited, as it was the first place to get looted when the zombie panic began. For each successful search in the Department Store, choose from among the following: 1 Barricade Materials, 1 Strength, 1 Disguise Point, 1 Speed Point, 1 Batteries, 1 Clothing. You can also rest there on mattresses to gain 1 Energy. However, unlike the Mattress Store, resting in the Department Store does require a successful search (you have to find where the mattresses are located). ----------------------------------------------------------- Exchanging Survivors/Resources Between Groups Survivor groups ending their movement in the same space may move survivors from one group to the other. Adjust both dice accordingly. Resources may also be exchanged in this manner. Adjust both groups resources on the tracking sheet as needed. Lost Groups/Resources When a group loses its last member, it is out of the game. Any resources that group had are also lost. Barricades Barricades can be erected on any of the four main level DOOR spaces, as well as on the Door to the Roof. To erect a barricade, discard two Barricade Materials while in one of the spaces next to a Door,
lose d3 Energy, and place a marker or draw an X over the word DOOR to indicate that a barricade has been built there. Only one barricade can be built at each Door location. Barricade effects: When any door has been barricaded, the group that barricaded the door ignores any Zombie Fight Dice for that turn. If two Doors have been barricaded, the red Zombie Die generates 1 less die than normal for the Zombie Fight Pool. If three Doors have been barricaded, the red Zombie Die generates 1 less die than normal for the Zombie Fight Pool -and- you may reroll any 1 s from the white dice as you would the other white dice (1 s still add a die to the Zombie Fight Pool if locked after the third roll). If the color code has been correctly displayed on the Roof and you are able to barricade the Door to the Roof before time has run out, you automatically win the game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- COMBAT To resolve combat, do the following steps: 1. You may use Strength to add fight dice to your pool. Every Strength you spend gives you an additional fight die. 2. Roll your fight dice. As with survivor dice you may roll the fight dice a total of three times, locking any or all of the dice when you want to. However, every time you roll a 1 on a re-rolled die, you immediately lose 1 Energy. 3. Roll the zombie fight dice. The zombies fight with all the dice you placed in the Zombie Fight Pool earlier. You only roll the zombie fight dice once. 4. Infected. Before comparing results you may remove any one zombie die by gaining one Infected Marker. You may not do this if you already have as many Infected Markers as you have party members. 5. Compare results. You may remove zombie dice by matching with fight dice on a 1:1 or 1:2 basis. Note: Zombies always win on ties. For example, one fight dice showing 6 can remove any one zombie die that is 5 or less or any two zombie dice that total up to 5 or less. But you can also use two of your fight dice to remove one zombie die (e.g. a 1 and a 4 can remove a zombie die that is 4 or less). 6. Take casualties. For every zombie die remaining you lose one party member for that group. ENERGY CHECK Energy represents the health and stamina of each group. Food and rest are needed every so often to keep everyone s Energy level up. After every third hour has passed (6 game turns), each group must be able to spend Energy equal to their number. If a group does not have enough Energy to spend, they spend all that they have and lose any survivors from their group that did not receive any Energy. They can not keep up and will soon be eaten by zombies. A group may have 0 Energy and still continue normally until the Energy Check occurs (they are, in essence, running on adrenalin). INFECTED After every Energy Check, there is also a check for every Infected Marker. If a group has any Infected markers, roll a die for each one and consult the following table: 1-3: The infected person turns into a zombie and wounds another person in the group before being killed. Lose 1 group member and keep the Infected Marker. 4-5: The infected person turns into a zombie and is killed. Lose 1 group member and discard the Infected Marker. 6: The infected person is hanging on, but is growing weaker. Lose 1 Strength or 1 Energy (if the group has no Energy or Strength, then lose 1 group member and discard the Infected Marker).
WINNING/LOSING THE GAME The game is considered lost if at any time you have no survivors left, or if the 18th hour has passed (36 game turns) and at least one survivor group is not on the Roof with the color code completed, or if all of the locations in the mall have not been searched. If you have at least one group of survivors on the Roof with the color code completed after the Energy/Infected check at 1:30 pm, and all of the locations have been searched, then you have succeeded. Note that merely being on the roof with the color code completed and all of the locations having been searched is not enough... you must survive and hold out until the helicopters arrive after the 18th hour. However, if you can build a barricade on the roof door after completing the color code and searching all of the locations, that guarantees a win. Scoring (if rescued only) Survivors on the Roof if rescued = +5 each Bonus for having 2 groups of survivors on the Roof when rescued = +15 Bonus for having 3 groups of survivors on the Rood when rescued = +30 Each turn before the 18th hour that color code was finished and Roof door barricaded = +20 each Remaining Energy of surviving groups = +1 for each Energy Remaining Strength of surviving groups = +1 for each Strength Doors barricaded = +10 each Infected Markers in rescued groups = -5 each This game was designed by Eric Herman, based on the system used in Dice of the Living Dead by Mads Brynnum.
Dawn of the Dice of the Dead - Tracking Sheet SURVIVOR GROUP 1 Die/pawn color: SURVIVORS (max 8): 7 ENERGY (max 8): 4 INFECTED MARKERS STRENGTH (max 4): 3 Barricade Materials: Knowledge: Speed: Disguise: Medicine: Batteries: Place Clothing cubes carried by this group within this box or to the side of this box. SURVIVOR GROUP 2 Die/pawn color: SURVIVORS (max 8): 6 ENERGY (max 8): 5 INFECTED MARKERS STRENGTH (max 4): 4 Barricade Materials: Knowledge: Speed: Disguise: Medicine: Batteries: Place Clothing cubes carried by this group within this box or to the side of this box. SURVIVOR GROUP 3 Die/pawn color: SURVIVORS (max 8): 5 ENERGY (max 8): 3 INFECTED MARKERS STRENGTH (max 4): 2 Barricade Materials: Knowledge: Speed: Disguise: Medicine: Batteries: Place Clothing cubes carried by this group within this box or to the side of this box. 8 pm 8:30 pm 9 pm 9:30 pm 10 pm 11 pm 11:30 pm 12 am 12:30 am 1 am 2 am 2:30 am 3 am 3:30 am 4 am 5 am 5:30 am 6 am 6:30 am 7 am 8 am 8:30 am 9 am 9:30 am 10 am 11 am 11:30 am 12 pm 12:30 pm 1 pm **Energy/Infected checks 10:30 pm** 1:30 am** 4:30 am** 7:30 am** 10:30 am** 1:30 pm** HELICOPTERS ARRIVE! Scoring (if rescued only) Survivors on the Roof if rescued = +5 each 2 groups of survivors on the Roof when rescued? = +15 3 groups of survivors on the Rood when rescued? = +30 Turns before 2 pm that code was finished and Roof door barricaded = +20 each Remaining Energy of surviving groups = +1 for each Energy Remaining Strength of surviving groups = +1 for each Strength Doors barricaded = +10 each Infected Markers in rescued groups = -5 each SCORE: