Nick, Jason, Bill, Cory, Logan.... if you guys read this, I will kill you, then kill your characters later.

I just wanted to run a game laden with undead and give a night of the living dead feel to it. That right there is all my players know so far. Now what I'm curious about, is, I know there are ways to implant spells into people and objects so they fire off at a specific time. BUT, is there a way to implant a spell into something, that when it fires off, it implants a spell into what triggered it?... and that thing can then implant a spell into something else? given the right circumstances at least.

The idea in context is a sorcerer intrigued after encountering a walking dead, scoured the world for years for all the information he could gather. While doing so he also gathered a small group of likeminded individuals. Eventually he created his own walking dead... but that wasn't enough for him. He wanted an army of his own. (megalomania and all that)... He slowly devised a way to create a spell that summoned spirits to imprison in a copy of the spell imbued into another person, that when the spell activated upon death, it would imprison that person's own spirit into their body in the process of creating an undead. if successful, then the freshly fallen dead person would be of the walking sort. Then when they attacked another.. and situation was right (thinking contact of blood, just cuz it's a staple in the genre) the spell would be triggered to summon a spirit to imbue the spell into the next person... and when they die, they roll for that spell to be turned into undead. A chainletter of magic ... that uses the individual's spirits to help feed it.

Now if i figured it's not perfect. and when the evil sorcerer tried to cast it, everything backfired against him and his companions, drawing ALL their SP and their spirits into the endless chainletter of magical doom!!! Also, I figure every time a Walking dead gets the chance to "transfer" the spell, that the spell causes it to age to the next stage of WalkingDead decay.

First off, is this in any way possible by the current rules, or am I going to just have to pull Gamemaster discretion to overrule things for the sake of plot?

The idea came to me when one of my players commented on how the undead in TROS scare the crap out of him, but he said "At least it isn't communicable."


-Luke
(edited to correct a part of my failing ability to spell)

To me this all falls under the umbrella of "plot device" and you shouldn't worry over how it is possible under the sorcery rules.

And you player is sooo sure zombies aren't contagious in any way is he? Well, this is just the type of thing that gets PC's into trouble in my campaigns. In fact when they say things like "...but gol only have a CP of 12 so I should be Ok." That's when the next gol they face has a CP of 15. Let a player think that everything he reads in the book is inviolate at his PC's peril.

Also maybe instead of the same evil sorcerer shtick, maybe it was a good sorcerer? Seeking to bring the dead back to life, so that those who went before thier time would be able to live normal lives and die of old age. And maybe when he and his buddies tried it things did'nt exactly go as planned...

I agree that the easiest thing to do is make it a plot device and not worry about the mechanics of it. But I would also think that the magic system as-is allows it, with some creativity. Thoughts on how?

Jake

I was thinking a WalkingDead would try and grapple and bite, and if successful, then the spell that transfers it would be triggered. Some sort of Summoning (I figured Summoning 3 just because of the amount of power needed to support all these continueing spells) and maybe an Implant or imprisonment... Then if successful, the new person is infected, and doesnt know it. If failed, nothing happens.

Now nothing happens to the infected person till they die. The spell does not kill them. So when they die (as the WalkingDead will try to kill them) then the second part of the spell initiates, I was thinking modified WalkingDead spell, came up with an ATN10. If successful, the person that died is now a WalkingDead. If Failed, they are lucky, and just dead.

In this way, a person may become "infected" and then live their life out for another 40 years, and die of old age, and THEN become a WalkingDead, and start a new infestation plaguing the lands. Brings up the moral dilema of "Do I kill the Innkeeper's daughter just because she got scratched by one of those things?" even when there's a good possibility she's just fine. I'm allowing free choice for their first character, after those die, most all following characters will be residents of the village, unless there's good reason to do something else.

As for the transferance spell, like I said, I whipped up something involving Summoning3, imprisonment, and Conquer(implant)... ATN 8.

Any suggestions?

-Luke

Jaeger, I like that good sorcerer idea. I probably will develope on that. Thank you.

-Luke

I think there should be little leeches in the zombies' brains. They lay eggs in the zombie brain and then leap from the zombie's mouth into a new victim's mouth, which turns the victim into a zombie. Eventually the eggs hatch and the head cavity explodes with leeches. And get this, this is the best part: The worms actually came from extra-terrestrials who abandoned them on Weyrth!!!

... or from a mysterious Aztec/Inca-like civilisation living on another continent...

:-)

Brian.