I just received my zombie book today. As the GM I am going over the book and mentally preparing for any scenario my players come up with. As my players and I all live in sunny Devon, UK, the game is going to be set there. Biggest problem I already see for a zombie game in the UK is we don't have guns here. Only the elite police, inner city gangster scum, and the occasional farmer may have a gun. Being in Devon, only the farmer one applies, but they'd have to travel quite a distance through zombie infested lands to the nearest farm and then have a VERY low possibility of the farmer even having a gun.

Being a student of medieval history, I have an array of medieval weapons and armour. So, as the game start setting is that the players were all at my house for a game of Edge of the Empire, they would be making a bee line straight to my mini medieval armoury.

The book covers swords very basically, and "full medieval armour" but doesn't really help with much else. I know it says that the GM can throw together some stats with the players agreeing on them, but I was hoping that someone out there had beaten me to it...as I have a LOT of different weapons that would need stats.

I would also like to know if anyone has whipped anything custom up yet.

Personally I haven't if only because I don't see the need for such minutiae. I want my game to be more about the survival aspect than the weapons. Although if you want to know about firearms from around the world I suggest this site .

I dont think you need to worry too much about weapon stats. A sword is a tool specially designed to do damage to a person. If you have other tools specially designed to do damage to a person then you could probably make them equivalent to the sword.

Keep in mind though that a sword is rather easy for someone to use. It essentially functions as an extension of the arm using it. If these other weapons are more complex and require training to use effectively they might justify additional setback dice.

I concur with Ryoden. The beauty of a system like EotW is it's simplicity. I would give all basic melee weapons the same stats. Substantially larger weapons get an extra positive die, smaller weapons get fewer dice, etc. Something difficult to manage, like a flail, would get negative dice.

Besides, if you want your players to have guns, you can arrange guns. Have a riot squad drive through town (either responding to some emergency or just plain bolting because everything's gone to **** anyway.) The van flips, everyone is killed by zombies. The players have a veritable buffet of previously difficult-to-find gear. Johnny Law is unlikely to come for your players over gun registration, what with the Zombie Apocalypse going on and all.

You can fine tune the list of what this riot squad happened to be carrying, what's out of ammo and what's been ruined by zombies tearing the men and their gear apart, to avoid giving your players too much kit all at once.

The system doesn't seem granular enough to handle complex simulations of weapons. It's more abstracted. Drifting it there could break what's so good about the system as is. The stress tracks are really "story points," a countdown timer letting players make up whatever injuries they want.

I too live in Devon and I think you'd be surprised at how many firearms are out there. You have a Royal Navy and Royal Marines presence in the county, clay pigeon shoots, pheasant shoots, gun clubs, etc. I would also expect practically *every* farmer to have a shotgun on the premises.

Referring to your question on melee weapons, I would use the large-bladed weapon as a base then subtract dice if it's more unwieldy, and add and subtract to the damage modifier depending on how it compares to a 'sword'.

Don't shake a stick at those heavy improvised weapons. I had a player pummel a zombie near to death with a satchel of heavy RPG books...

I am pretty sure my PC's are going to raid the DIY store near my home for nail guns, chainsaws and axes within the first 10 minutes of adventuring.

I am pretty sure my PC's are going to raid the DIY store near my home for nail guns, chainsaws and axes within the first 10 minutes of adventuring.

I'm kitty corner from a Canadian Tire here in the Great White North. Firearms, power tools, machetes, axes, and other sundry survival gear. First place I'd loot.

[Cheesy announcer voice]

"Never forget your local Scout Association group or campsite for all your End of the World needs"

[and back to normal]

In all seriousness I'm a scout leader, and also work for a local water company. The list of places that I gave the GM (and eventually the group) for scavanging supplies was silly when we ran what was essentually End of the World about 4 years ago.

We used our county's scout headquarters as our first overnight bolt hole (close enough to town to get there quick, well hidden and not well known so not so many people heading that way) and it was full of handy things, camping equipment, off-road vehicles, tools, etc - basically it was the perfect place to get setup (we had been started during one of our regular evenings out to the pub so no-one had the advantage of being at home with personal stuff on-hand).

But garden centres, DIY stores, garages, etc can all provide weapons and supplies if you are creative enough.

Also don't forget the biggest advantage us Brits have (and probably a good chunk of europe to) castles. Solid walls, designed to be easily defended before guns were invented, not owned by the military, and usually chock full of sharp stabby things - sounds good to me - the fact a creative GM might also turn clearing the castle into a pretty good mini-adventure should been seen as a bonus.

I really must dig out my campaign notes from our Atmoic Highway game (the one I refered to earlier) as there seems to be alot of cool ideas I can pass on from it.

Regards

I am pretty sure my PC's are going to raid the DIY store near my home for nail guns, chainsaws and axes within the first 10 minutes of adventuring.

Good point, I think mine will just buy a pile of frozen pizzas and wait for the all thing to end on its own

There's a thread on these forums with stats for Bows, which basically have the same stats as guns.

I lie in Canada and guns are also not the most prevalent thing either. All single shot weapons, not commonly found. Guns are overrated anyway; they're loud and attract attention, heavy, and unless I am fighting Infected, I generally opt for melee or thrown weapons.