How To Scare Friends & Influence People

RiderOnTheStorm

I have Zombie inspired idea for a night out. I might be able to get access to a (working) theatre. I was thinking that a few mates would have a zombie v survivors night in it. Y'know, make way thru dark theatre, lots of nooks & crannys, stairs, back-stage, etc and fight off the zombies that you find there. Sort of like paint-ball, but with zombies.

I am looking for ideas & help around some issues:

Problem #1: Whats the Point? Survivors inside the building. What is the objective of the night? To survive for 60 mins? To find way out? To kill all the Z's?

Problem #2: Limited Supply of Zombies . If i get a dozen guys to go, that will be a lot. So 6 Z's and 6 survivors. This means that if we do paintball style thing, then all the Z's dead in the first 5 mins (and a mess in the theatre and we are never allowed back). So maybe no weapons .... just run & avoid? Of course, if the Z's catch you they can 'bite' you, and you become a Z.

Problem #3: How do Z's Die? Should we allow the Z's to be 'killed'? I dont want real fighting, as it might get out of hand. So I am leaning twoards the immortal Z . Not realistic, but easy to manage. The game would be a 'run & avoid' type ..... or 'tig' as we used to call it

No Way Out: If the game was to find the exit without getting killed, then I would secure all the exits , bar 1. The exits would be secured with red wool or yellow tape (or something) to symbolise that its locked and cant be used. In the event of a real incident (like a fire) , then we could easily get out.

Whose Afraid of the Dark: Its a theatre, so its easy to make large areas dark (turn off lights, or put coloured 'gels' over the lights). If we do it at night, then even the windows / doors to the outside world will not let in any light.

Sound Guys: it would be real easy also to play spooky music thru the building. It would mask the shuffle of the aproaching Z's!

degrassinoel

How long are you planning on the game going on? Just an hour or a few hours? will beer be involved?

RiderOnTheStorm

I guess game would need an hour or two. I want suspence / fear to build, but I dont want anyone to get bored.

Beer? prob not .... dont want accidents .......

degrassinoel

Was thinking that each room could only be occupied once, and a given amount of time per room, say 10 minutes. Each room has a puzzle/zombie or zombiepuzzlemaster - if the answer or score etc.. is wrong/low the zombies eats someones brains and creates a new zombie.( lashings of blood and general carnage) If the group passes, they kill the zombie and move into the next room with whatever helpful goodies the zombie had, ie: beer/vodka/clue to the next puzzle etc..

winner is the team with more zombies/survivors at the end of the two hours or when ye run out of rooms/brains

RiderOnTheStorm

yup....liking that idea Grassi. Like a real-life D&D .......

Micky Dolenz

Each human player could have soft foam tennis balls or roll up socks etc, to be thrown as a "weapon". Head shots take a zed player out of the game for x amount of time. Maybe?

Tzar Chasm

Dipped/soaked in some form of food dye that could be very workable.

Where and when?

ScumLord

Having a puzzle to unlock each door would be a good one. You have to make your way from one end of the building to another and have to pick up certain objects along the way to make your final escape kind of like a zombie version of crystal maze.

You wouldn't even need zombies as such, you have a team and a time limit at each puzzle if you can't complete the puzzle one of your team becomes a zombie. maybe a further penalty would be the more team members you lose the less time you have at the following puzzles (due to having less team members to hold of the horde following).

The big problem with having a group of people playing around in an abandoned building would be that you should legally have some sort of public liability insurance or the owner of the building or organisers would be held acountable for any injuries.

Micky Dolenz

You'd be as well to do a trial run in a gaff.

RiderOnTheStorm

some good ideas there. I like the food-dye on a ball. I do need a way for the Z's to 'infect' the survivors (without using force). I was thinking of an ink-stamp to the neck ....

The place I have in mind is a working theatre. So its fully functioning and covered by insurance.

Date & Location: to be announced ..... but dont hold your breath!

degrassinoel

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

some good ideas there. I like the food-dye on a ball. I do need a way for the Z's to 'infect' the survivors (without using force). I was thinking of an ink-stamp to the neck ....

The place I have in mind is a working theatre. So its fully functioning and covered by insurance.

Date & Location: to be announced ..... but dont hold your breath!

Cheap ink stamp, Carve out a potato into the shape of teeth/bite marks - dip in your non-permanent ink - stamp victim

Tzar Chasm

aldi also do cheap disposable overalls in a range of colours, they're the ones with the hoods, maybe white for survivors black for Z's easy to identify any form of mark.

also suggest people bring their own bicycle/hurling helmets so we can get serious with the whackin on the skull with styrafoam rods

ScumLord

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

The place I have in mind is a working theatre. So its fully functioning and covered by insurance.

It's covered to have people to sit down and watch a film, not for throwing things at people. Trust me this will be an issue, insurance companies will want their pound of flesh, so to speak. I would also assume throwing messy inky things around won't sit to well with management.

Micky Dolenz

Old abandoned warehouse could be the ticket. Be sure and ask owner permission yadda yadda, etc etc.

RiderOnTheStorm

ScumLord wrote: »

It's covered to have people to sit down and watch a film, not for throwing things at people. Trust me this will be an issue, insurance companies will want their pound of flesh, so to speak. I would also assume throwing messy inky things around won't sit to well with management.

delish ..........

yup, thats a fair point.
Also, we want to keep the throwing / mess to a min.

Overalls are a great idea.

Now thinking about giving the survivors a list of 10 things (eg, radio, first-aid kit, torch, etc) and they have to collect any 3 before they can attempt to open the exit door. I might have a key attached to each item, and a padlock placed by the door (not attached in any way, its just symbolic) and if you can open the door, you are free & safe! (as the organiser, I will know what key fits what lock, so I can place them strategicly). The Z's are then just distraction (still thinking about how to allow Z's to infect the searchers without it getting physical or messy ....... maybe when the Z's catch a searcher, they take some/all the keys that they have found so far?)

....its a work in progress

....would love to do this in a ghost estate!

....please keep posting & commenting guys, its very helpfull (and fun!) ..... and thanks for all the input so far!!

RiderOnTheStorm

ok, its been a long time coming, but I have a date for my (first) Zombie night. Sat 2nd Feb. First night will be a trial run, with 12 people (6 Z's and 6 Survivors). The object of the game is for the Survivors to get out of the (dark & spooky) building. I have no idea how long it will take to play, could be 10 mins, could be hours. I will call halt to game after about an hour if it goes on that long. If it is short, I will get the Z's and S's to swap and do it again! :-)

watch this space for updates

degrassinoel

deadly, keep us posted, would love to know how it goes

Kromdar

just combining some ideas there, and having been a fan of the crystal maze and zombie survival, why not have a correctly solved puzzle award you a few of the balls / socks as ammo. failing a puzzle gives the zombie team another member.

then at the end, you have to make it out of the building, facing a wall of zombies [the less the better] and are armed with socks/balls as ammo, each zombie taking 1 headshot or 2 bodyshots to take down.

aiming skills and puzzles!

6 survivors
6 zombies
6 puzzles.

get all the puzzles right and you have plenty of ammo
get them wrong, you better have a bloody good aim!

RiderOnTheStorm

well, the weekende has come and gone .... and there was no Zombie night

I had 10 people lined up for the night, a great venue, and all equipment & tasks lined up . But then, on Friday, people started to drop out . I had 5 by end of Fri night, and had to call it off.

I will be rearranging it for later in the year, when suitable date is avail (have to co-ordinate with theater, and find date when there isnt a big social event on here that will take away my players).

Just as a matter of interest, how many Boardsies will be willing to travel to Ballybunion for a test run of this game / event? (date permitting, of course)

Micky Dolenz

Will there be cake?

RiderOnTheStorm

...there will always be cake !