Fun Within a Zombie Infested Mansion

As I've considered this blog over time it has become on thing and then another.  It seems to me that one thing I need in this life is a little creativity.  If I'm not working on some project I'm usually depressed.  It keeps my spirit on fire and alive.  Being creative is a breath of life into the darkness of loss and depression. The best thing is this creative outlet.  I don't often share my creative projects with a lot of people and don't have a means to.  Now I can use this blog to show my creations and speak about them.  If for nothing else then my own good....

The Story Tellers Guide

So anyway, to the point of this entry.  As you noticed in the title there is something about zombies and a mansion.  I love board games and table top role playing games.  My favorite role playing game, (or at least the one I've played the most) is The World of Darkness.  It's based in a dark macabre world.  You can pretty much use it to explore any horror or supernatural theme you could think of.  The game system is easy to understand and fun to play.

The Main Floor of the Mansion

Just about two months ago during Halloween I started working on a campaign for this game.  A campaign is a story that a group of characters play through.  The basis for the campaign borrowed elements from H.P. Lovecraft, Mansion of Madness, and the first Resident Evil game.  To be short and simple it was a mansion infested with deadly zombies.

The Upper Landing and the
Basement

Each character in the game is or once was a student of Professor Anias, a History Professor.  After the Professor dies he sends a letter to all the students asking them to come to his mansion to uncover the truth about his death.  Little do they know the house is crawling with zombies that the Professor himself has raised. We soon find out that the students are trapped inside and that the Professor is only using them and their life force to resurrect himself once more.  It's up to the students to survive the night and put the Professor's spirit to rest once and for all.

I truly enjoyed writing and designing this game.  I have always loved writing horror and mystery stories.  It only made sense to translate this to a game. (It would be so fun to write the script for a video game.) Not only did I write the script, I designed a map of the entire mansion using Google Sketch-Up.  First I drafted the house on graph paper and then I built the mansion into Sketch-Up.  This program is so much fun to use!  Then I printed the maps out and pasted them on card paper and laminated them.

Character Sheets

I designed all the non-player charters and also created zombies.  There is a great set of rules for zombies and zombie creation in the World of Darkness Antagonists book.  I even found a specific character sheet for zombies online!  Whoever designed this thank you!  It is fantastic.

Zombie Character Sheets

Then for the last special touch I painted some figurines for the game.  Most of them were from the Zombies!!! and Midevil board games by Twilight Creations.  A few of the minuteness though were ones I specifically bought and painted for the campaign.  Namely the two stages of the boss battle with Professor Anias.

The Zombies

Finally I made a soundtrack to play with the game using music by Midnight Syndicate at other songs from the Parasite Eve Soundtrack.

The Demon Lord Anias

Then after about three months of work on this thing, My wife, her brother, and a friend of ours got together to play the game.  It was a very fun and rewarding experience playing through this story with me running it.  I enjoy playing all the zombies and characters they have to interact with.  We never got to finish the campaign but overall I would say it was a success and I am thrilled to get started on the next campaign using the Changeling expansion for World of Darkness!