So im trying to get my group of MTG players to set aside magic every other week and play an rpg. After much searching I found this one and fell in love with it. I still have to convince them to play this but so far its looking good. I would be the GM, but Ive never gmed before.

And I still havent bought the book yet but that hasnt stopped me from brainstorming senario ideas and stuff.

So

I have a few ideas I want to swing by you guys.

1.

How would you get the players to make split second decisions? I know rpging can be very collaborative, which is fine, but what would you do if in a given senario "X zombies are barrelling towards you, they are X ft away" In real life they would be at them in just a few seconds. Would you pull out a stop watch, after you have explained the situation properly, and say "you have X seconds to do something before they zombies are at you." How would you apply pressure to them to think fast?

I dont want to be a total nazi about it, but im thinking about giving them a short time limit in some circumstances to come up with something. Is this normal?

2.

Since I dont have the rule book i dont know exactly how combat works, but I wonder, how do you keep track of bullets? What determines how many shots a player fires at any given target? If a player wanted to completely unload on a target, would you allow them to roll extra positive dice for each X number of bullets extra?

I served in the United States Marine Corps for several years, so I have the whole "two to the chest, one to the head" thing going on. So I would say that (when firing a non-full auto weapon) that a single attack would be 3 bullets, which may or may not be enough to take down an enemy. Would another attack would be another roll?

Of course with zombies, a player would mostly want to shoot at the head, which is harder to hit than the chest. Are there rules for the increased difficulty?

Would adding extra positive dice for extra trigger pulls in the same attack be something fun to do? In real life, I would shoot at a target 3 times, quickly asses the situation to see if it was down, if it wasnt I would pull the trigger 3 more times, which I could represent by rolling for another attack. On the other hand, a player could keep pulling the trigger until they saw that the target was down. Would representing this be equal to adding extra positive dice to a single attack?

Keeping track of bullets shouldnt be to hard, and when it comes time to reload I could have a situation kinda like point #1 presents. Speed reloading can be hard if under pressure, and I could make them roll for it. Would this add the the fun level, or detract?

I know it wouldnt be fun to have to roll every time you had to reload, only in the time critical moments would I make them do it.

3.

i kinda leaning to getting miniatures and making a grid for massive encounters with several zombies. I wouldnt use it every time. Just sometimes.

Anybody know of any cheap zombie & survivor minis I could get?

I am an accomplished painter so they wouldnt neccessarily have to be prepainted.

Thanks guys!

1- In situations where I want the players to make quick, split second, decisions I forgo any initiative system and just go around the table. If a player takes more than 5 or so seconds to describe what they are doing and make the dice roll, I skip to the next player. Most importantly I don't let the NPCs have any more time than the players do. Players quickly get the hang of it after being skipped a few times.

You will need to make sure that the players appreciate that sort of fast paced game. In your MTG games do you use any sort of turn clock or the like?

2- The narrative pace of this system is not conducive to micromanaging your ammo. You will have to come up with your own house rule for doing that.

3- Again the narrative system does not require minis but that is not what you are asking. I would rely on my FLGS. Reaper Bones has some nice options.

1. I'm assuming that your players are new to RPGs as well? If that's the case then don't rush them to begin with, let the rules and setting take time to sink in. They will need time to make decisions during play, especially combat encounters and only giving them a few seconds may overwhelm them.

2.Don't bother! As a first time GM you'll have your work cut out running the adventure and portraying the NPC's. If you really have to count bullets then have one of your players handle it. But it might be more fun to have their ammo run out at a critical time rather than audit them. Remember its a game not a simulation.

3.Try here: http://store.fastcommerce.com/twilightcreationsinc/zombies-glow-in-the-dark-bag-o-zombies--ff808081175e96dc01175fa89e660530-p.html

Welcome to the GM club, please check your sanity in at the claok room with your coat, you can collect it on the way out if you still want it

1) as other people have said, if you group is new to RP's then go easy on them to stary with. However, in my games if something needs a lttile more drama, or to be decided quickly, then the trusty stopwatch comes out to play. Now I don't give the players a hard and fast "you must decide in X seconds" what I do is I very obviously start the clock and the long the group takes to decide what happens the worse/harder/more ridiclous (delete as needed) the situation gets. With your Zombie Hord as an example: if they took too long I would either keep making the Horde bigger, or have a second (or third) horde suddenly appear form a different angle.

2) I make my players responsible for counting ther own ammo (as a gm you have enough to do). If you feel that someone is doing a little bit of creative accounting then there are other ways to solve the problem - I personally like the "random gun jam at the worst possible moment" or "falls through rotten floor into a room full of bad guys" solutions to "creative" players.

3) a single box of Games Workshop zombies will probably be all you ever need, though I really wouldn't call them cheap. www.WARGAMESFOUNDRY.com have some interesting models that might work for Player Charcters.

Good luck.

Surak

@ wazza

how big are those glow in the dark zombies? do you know? I play warhammer, are they about the size of imperial guardsmen?

I just got the book, and I'm really looking forward to starting a game! It looks awesome so far.

3. I'm planning on using the Zombies!!! box for minis: survivors and zombies. And the city tiles might be useful as well. http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1884383/zombies

The Zombies!!! game itself is not all that great but you get a lot of zombies in the box.

The minis are smaller than imperial guardsmen, probably three quarters or two thirds the size.

So im trying to get my group of MTG players to set aside magic every other week and play an rpg.

I know im way late to the party on this post but I thought I would add that Dungeons and Dragons 5e Beginner box and FF's own Edge of the Empire Beginner box are great for a group of people not used to tabletop RPG's. Everything is laid out for you and they are fairly cheap. I only posted this as you said you wanted to do ZA every other week, and it's more of a short form campaign system.

Welcome to the rewarding job of GM'ing! It's going to be a bump ride, but you may just get addicted

1) If pressure is what you need, be descriptive rather than timing the event. For example, if the players are backed into a dead end alley and have to decide whether to attempt to climb the rain slicked wall or stand to fight with only one bat between the three of them... as they take longer to decide, describe the zombie getting closer. Get more detailed as they get closer, start describing the clothes, then the jewelry their still wearing, then the dead vacant look in their eyes... the players will instinctively understand that if they can see the red in the zombie's eyes that the point of no return is close.

2) I can go either way here... having the players use a master list of ammo and watch that list shrink as the game goes on adds a sense of dread. However, having a nebulous idea of the ammo and having the ability to have the "mags run dry" mid-battle is easier if their is no tracking. It allows you as the GM to add drama if a pivotal battle is way to easy on the players.

3) For cheap minis, I go to ebay and search for "D&D mini*" and there are all kinds of lots/sets of commons and uncommons that you can repurpose. Cheap and easy and most are prepainted.

1. this is something I run into a lot with one of my players. He seems to think it is necessary to have a meeting every time there is a decision to be made. No matter what the circumstances are he wants to have a long drawn out talk to see what they should do. I have found that stopping him usually upsets him but after having done so a few times now he seems to get it. What also seemed to help quite a bit is to go from a "what do you do?" directed at the group to a "what do you do?" directed at the individual player.

2. They have as much bullets as you need them to have. If they never ask make sure they run out at a moment when it makes sese for you and the story, if they ask and check then tell them a fixed number and make sure they keep track themselves.

3. I second Zombies!!!!!

For zombie miniatures (if you don't mind spending a little more money) I'd go with zombicide it come with like 50 zombies plus some survivors. If you don't want to buy the game(though I highly recommend it ) you can buy the expansion packs for around $24. With the expansion pack you get 24 minis in three different types(runners walkers and big ol' fatties)

Actually after reading about it I recommend zombies!!!. You get more for less. Although you should still get zombicide if you're into zombie board games

Regarding split second decisions, my advice from prior games is to tell players in advance what you plan to do, and only do it in certain very clearly described situations.

You: ...when 7 zombies suddenly come shambling into view around the curve in the road in front of you! Quickly now, you have 10 seconds...what do you do?

Player: well, i just came onto the road from the open field on the right, so I quickly jump to the left and try to break line of sight.

You: Ha! The fall down the cliff-side kills you.

Player: what cliff????

Yes, exaggerated, but you don't want to leave out stupid obvious details by accident.