Savage Last Night on Earth, Part One

For GenghisCon XXXIV, I made good on an age-old promise: to Savage the excellent zombie board game, Last Night on Earth (LNOE). I've run the simple scenario three times now, and by all accounts it's a hit. This is the first of multiple posts (don't know how many it will be), explaining the Savaging.

I started by putting together some design goals. First, I wanted to use the miniatures (duh), boards, and other bits from the LNOE game. I ended up using the spawning pit markers as well, and I made the Zombie Hero tokens available in case they were needed. Second, I wanted to use the characters from the game. I decided on the eight characters from the core game. The rulebook provided great bios for each of them, and their character cards would provide me with the rest of the inspiration I needed. Third, I wanted to Savage some of the LNOE rules that felt like part of the feel of the board game.

I only used the corner boards for my RPG sessions because the center board's spaces are a different size. In addition, the corner boards aren't really formatted to be laid together in a large series, so I only presented two boards at a time, forming a rectangle, handwaving travel between them. Also, I used the two extra corner boards from the Growing Hunger expansion. I found out you can buy replacement boards for $12 for LNOE. I think in the future I'll get a set of those and mark up the center board to make the squares the same size. We'll see how that goes.

Before I present the characters, I have some quick notes. 1) I decided that Sally would have a Quirk that didn't allow her to use guns. In the board game, she's limited to a pistol, but I thought that wouldn't translate well to a great Savage Worlds hindrance, so I went with no guns at all. Much to my chagrin, Sally's miniature in the core game is holding a pistol. I know that doesn't need to be a big deal, but it bugged me. Luckily, Sally is a survivor character in the Timber Peak expansion, and that figure had a knife. Winning! 2) There are no real powers in LNOE, but I thought it appropriate to give Father Joseph a very basic turning power. I felt like it didn't change the flavor of LNOE, and it felt Savage to me. 3) The squares on the corner boards are about two inches, so I have simply halved the Pace on the characters and gave them d3 for running to account for this. We'll talk more about my movement and combat tweaks in another post. 4) Finally, I fancy the idea of expanding this game out, and running continuing adventures at conventions, so I started the characters at 0 XP.

Here are the stat blocks:

Sheriff Anderson
Abilities: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Driving d4, Fighting d6, Healing d4, Intimidation d4, Investigation d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Shooting d6, Streetwise d6, Survival d4
Charisma: 0; Pace: 3; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6 
Hindrances: Cautious, Heroic, Loyal
Edges: Command
Gear: Pistol, handcuffs, Maglite

Becky
Abilities: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d4, Vigor d8
Skills: Fighting d4, Healing d10, Investigation d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Survival d6
Charisma: +2; Pace: 3; Parry: 4; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Curious, Pacifist (minor), Quirk (flirtatious)
Edges: Attractive, Healer, Nerves of Steel
Gear: Medical kit

Billy
Abilities: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d4, Fighting d6, Lockpicking d6, Notice d6, Shooting d6, Stealth d6, Taunt d6, Throwing d6
Charisma: -2; Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Mean, Overconfident, Stubborn
Edges: Fleet Footed (+1 Pace, d4 running die), Lucky
Gear: None

Sally
Abilities: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d8, Persuasion d8, Stealth d8, Streetwise d6
Charisma: +2; Pace: 3; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Loyal, Quirk (refuses to use guns), Yellow
Edges: Attractive, Danger Sense, Lucky
Gear: None

Johnny
Abilities: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d8, Intimidation d6, Notice d4, Persuasion d6, Streetwise d4, Taunt d4, Throwing d10
Charisma: +2; Pace: 3; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Arrogant, Illiterate, Quirk (misuses common colloquialisms; uses wrong "big" word)
Edges: Charismatic, Lucky, Martial Artist
Gear: None

Jenny
Abilities: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d4, Fighting d8, Intimidation d6, Repair d6, Riding d4, Shooting d6, Survival d6, Taunt d4
Charisma: 0; Pace: 3; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Big Mouth, Quirk (pretty, but weird)
Edges: Lucky
Gear: None

Father Joseph
Abilities: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d4, Vigor d4
Skills: Fighting d6, Healing d8, Investigation d8, Knowledge (Occult) d4, Notice d8, Persuasion d8, Streetwise d6
Charisma: 0; Pace: 2; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Elderly, Pacifist (minor), Vow (protect the flock)
Edges: Common Bond, Turn Undead (brandish holy symbol; opposed Spirit roll: success = Shaken, raise = wound; range is half Smarts)
Gear: Crucifix, bible, rosary

Jake Cartwright (my favorite character in the game, mostly due to his background)
Abilities: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Healing d4, Intimidation d6, Notice d6, Repair d6, Shooting d6, Streetwise d6, Survival d6, Tracking d6
Charisma: -2; Pace: 3; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Bad Luck, Delusional (thinks the dead speak with him), Outsider
Edges: Brawny, Quick
Gear: Duffel bag, knife

This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for purpose of this product.

Last Night on Earth, the Zombie Game is Copyright 1999-2013, Flying Frog Productions, LLC. This is a fan work and no challenge to that copyright is intended.