Re: "Which Bite Wins"

Hmm.

It all depends on precisely which variety of each monster is being used. So let's start with the fundamentals.

PART 1: CONTRIVED BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS
Zombies are caused by an actual virus, spread via bodily fluids. One explanation I always liked, from a few incarnations of Resident Evil, was that it was a combination of a destructive ebola strain (which would kill people too fast to actually spread) and a failed viral vector which stimulated cell growth & activity (they wanted supersoldiers, instead of mutated bodybuilders with lots and lots of cancer).

Vampirism is a disease, bloodborne microorganisms (think malaria) that alter your bodily chemistry to make you sociopathic, alert, unnaturally strong, oversensitive to light, in need of blood, etc.

Werewolves. . .hmm. Let's say that werewolves are a hereditary genetic thing- because genetic traits aren't always just recessive or dominant. There are disorders that run in a family but have little clear pattern, because the potential is there in the genes but other factors are needed to push you over the brink. Like your diet, or high levels of stress. High levels of stress. . .from being bitten by a werewolf.

Uh, and it has to be a werewolf because there's also a biochemical factor that's induced by a werewolf's saliva. (Werewolf french kisses will thus also induce a transformation, but they almost never do that to someone)


PART 2: INITIAL INFECTION
If we assume each of these transformations' initial effect happens over the effect of 5 minutes, what happens when they're combined? Here's where I really start throwing out bullcrap (instead of rigorously looking up concepts like "viral vectors" on wikipedia, for like 5 whole minutes, and *then* using them in my bullcrap).

The zombie virus is spreading throughout your bloodstream, altering the behavior of your body's cells so that they work 80-hour weeks with little oversight or direction. The effects would not be obvious right away- the subject would be feverish and delirious, with the viral vectors needing longer periods of time to reach the central nervous system.

The werewolf stimuli simultaneously triggers a change in the subject's. . .uh. . .he grows hair and stuff, ok? Look, this just getting ridicu{TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, PLEASE STAND BY}

Ahem. The werewolf stimuli simultaneously triggers its own change in the subject's biological functions, activating the latent potential behaviors of his organs. His body starts to reconfigure itself, with the viral zombie interference hindering the development in some cases and amplifying it in others.

The increase in pulse rate and vital activities would give the bloodborne vampire microorganisms a boost, letting them take effect quickly and with more potency. So while the subject begins having difficulty distinguishing reality from his imagination (the zombie virus' initial delirium), and having all kinds of predatory carnivore impulses, he's also becoming more alert, obsessive-compulsive, and sociopathically cunning.


PART 3: THE TRANSFORMATION
Soon the delirium will fade as the zombie virus reaches the brain, and the higher thought processes turn to empty static. But where a normal brain would thus be left in a constant state of dazed distraction and simple agitation, this brain has different kinds of things going on under the hood. Predatory impulses to hunt and prowl, to lurk and carefully monitor the surroundings, to lunge forward and attack your prey with terrible ferocity.

Physically, the subject's skin becomes pale and lifeless before it can grow much hair, and his terrified babbling quickly gives way to guttural groans and animal growls. The scientists high five one another as the subject flexes ineffectively against the restraints, concluding that they have basically produced a zombie with sharp teeth that snarls alot.

They aren't realizing how there are changes that are only just beginning in the subject's muscles. That they've started growing to fulfill their latent potential, AND have been told by viral vectors to work overtime, AND are being treated to a special biochemical cocktail courtesy of bloodborne symbiotic microorganisms. Meaning that in a few days the subject will become twice as strong. . .three times over. (That's right- EXPONENTIALLY stronger)

And because there's nothing else left for a zombie to feel; because it fuels everything the wolf has evolved to accomplish; because it defines the vampire by its all-consuming addiction: the subject will be driven by an unstoppable hunger for living human beings.

Howzat?

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Final Fantasy 7 + Slashers

Back in that post reviewing what I'd been up to this last month or two, I mentioned that "World Of Darkness' amazing Slasher supplement inspired me to go back and revisit. . .my old idea for setting a campaign in the world of the FF7 series. I know it sounds deranged, but these two concepts are peanut butter and chocolate, seriously."

See, it's like this. In the wake of the original video game's events, you've got a setting with a military force of supersoldiers that's now been disbanded- plus untold numbers more that have been exposed to Jenova Cells in one fashion or another, even just by having blood from a SOLDIER spill on an open wound. And all of these people are being influenced by an alien subconsciousness; this influence largely consists of making them want to kill everyone.

Literally, everyone.

As in they want to personally murder every last human being on the planet.

Granted, Slashers in FF7 don't beat your skull in with a cement block; they slice through steel doors with swords and have duels on the backs of motorcycles. But the "those who fight monsters" theme seen in White Wolf's book very much applies here, since the ones best suited to fighting the slashers are other ex-SOLDIERs who have managed (so far) to resist the mental corruption.

I'm not suggesting your FF7-based campaign be a horror game; the idea is to enhance the adventuring setup described in the earlier post, in two different ways.

First, npc slashers provide a temporary shift towards thriller movie territory; a scary iconic enemy (similar to Dragons in D&D) that alters the nature of the encounter/adventure by being a far more serious threat than any normal enemy. Yes, the players are going to be far more powerful than any average joe slasher movie victim, but that boost in power applies to both sides, meaning they'll still be facing a very real threat.

Second, the Slasher villians and the chance to play as a character with Jenova Cells both help provide an overarching conflict to the setting (and thus the player's adventures). Western fantasy has holy knights fighting the corrupting influence of the devil and his foul servants; in the world of FF7, you have hardy survivors engaged in a similar struggle against Jenova and her psychopathic pawns. And in both cases, the future of humanity is at stake.

Now in case it's not clear, I'm not saying to gloss over all the fun, inventive aspects of the setting in favor of black leather bodysuits and ominous latin chanting. My goal here's just to facilitate a game where you can have it all- to capture both the madcap fun of parts like FF7's early Midgar sections, and the chilling tension that came from moments like escaping confinement in the Shinra headquarters only to see the hallways outside are covered in fresh blood.

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Simulating Humanity's Post-Zombpocalypse Fate

The above picture is taken from an old project of mine. The goal was to build a simulative model in order to predict what humanity's fate would be, long-term, in the event of a zombie apocalypse as seen in classic films like those of George Romero. It was actually my final project in a high school class that was based around using a computer program called STELLA to model these sorts of complex situations. Prior assignments had modeled things like the spread of a disease and the populations of wolves and deer in a wildlife preserve; part of my interest in putting together this particular simulation came from how it mixed elements of those two prior models. You have predators which infect and convert their prey. How would such a premise logically play out?

The simulation takes into account more factors than just the method by which the virus spreads. The two major things I wanted to take into account beyond the basic model were supplies available for salvage and survivor's experience in dealing with zombies. If there's a ton of abandoned houses around with fully stocked fridges, an average survivor has lower odds of starving or freezing to death. If a person has never had a first-hand encounter with a zombie before- knows nothing about the situation they're in except that there's a moving corpse in front of them- then their odds of surviving that encounter are going to be alot lower.

The variable in my simulation, then, was the size of the initial outbreak. If the dead rise from their graves all over the world, and society has collapsed by the end of the week, people are going to be less prepared than if they've had a couple weeks to watch news of nations in other hemispheres slowly crumbling while wondering if they'll be next.

So.
THE RESULTS:


The model's results are interesting to me in three different ways:
-The single scariest factor is a way in which the zombie-human factor does *not* match the typical predator-prey relationship. Cruel as it is, that type of system has inherent balances; wolves will start starving to death if they kill and eat 90% of the deer population. But zombies don't starve. They get along just fine even when there's only one of us left for every ten of them.
-As you can see, the variable- the size of the initial outbreak- leads to some interesting variations in the model. But even the smallest outbreak- only 50 initial infections- still leads to the death of over 80% of the population. However, the only scenario in which humanity is actually wiped out- leaving only a population of slowly eroding zombies- is the one where a full quarter of the population is initially infected and turned, so that when only the seasoned veterans remain there's just too many zombies left for them to handle.
-Lastly, the model ignores/handwaves a certain factor which is rarely addressed in zombie fiction (Though Max Brooks made a concerted justification effort in World War Z, bless his heart): There is NO WAY the virus is going to spread effectively if it's only transmitted from a zombie to a living person's bodily fluids. Because the world's just too big. In zombie fiction you can drop into some random point in the wilderness and there'll be a hundred zombies in a mile radius. The virus will spread across the country like wildfire. But in practice. . .how does a zombie make its way across open countryside to another major population center? Romero's zombie virus, as presented, just isn't cut out for global armageddon.

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Hunter Stats

d20 statistics for Half Life: Episode 2's Hunters. Fairly self-explanatory.

Hunter
Size/Type: Large Living Construct
Hit Dice: 10d10+30 (84 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 60 ft. (12 squares)
Armor Class: 23 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +11 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+18
Attack: Slam +14 melee (2d6+7) or Flechettes +9 ranged (30' range, 1d6+2d6 force)
Full Attack: Slam +14 melee (2d6+7) or Flechettes +9 ranged (30' range, 1d6+2d6 force)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Flechettes
Special Qualities: Living Construct traits, damage reduction 10/adamantine, darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, spell resistance 20
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +6
Abilities: Str 25, Dex 17, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 17, Cha 4
Skills: Intimidate +11, Jump +19, Listen +10, Search +16, Spot +16, Survival +17 (+19 following tracks)
Feats: Awesome Blow, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, Track
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary or pack (2-3)
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: -
Level Adjustment: —

Hunters are a type of bioengineered Combine shock troop, typically deployed in harsh terrain and heavily forested environments innavigable for a standard Strider unit. Standing about 8 feet tall, they travel on three quadruple-jointed legs and see via two bioluminescent, vertically aligned blue eyeports. Much swifter and more agile than a Strider, their tripedal configuration also allows for lateral movement, jumping and dodging. Hunters communicate among themselves in a their own language, which consists largely of grunts, roars and growls. They weigh roughly 600 pounds.

Combat
Hunters typically begin combat by hanging back and attempting to pick their targets off with flechettes from a distance. If their target is evasive or too close, the Hunter may lower its 'head' module and charge like a bull, either butting the target away into terminal range of their flechettes or knocking them down to fall victim to their deadly foot talons. Observation of their ‘body language’ and vocalizations during battle has led to speculation that they may well experience frustration if they’re unable to quickly dispatch their targets.

Flechettes (Ex)
A Hunter's primary weapon is a dual barreled flechette launcher, which fires two-pronged darts in rapid salvos from its eyeports. Upon striking a target, the darts explode, dealing an additional 2d6 force damage to anything within a 5-foot radius. Those not hit by the darts can make a DC 18 reflex save for half damage. The save DC is constitution-based.

Skills
A hunter has a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate, Search, and Spot checks.

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