What inspired you to adapt Return of the Living Dead into a tabletop RPG?
The Return of the Living Dead is my all-time favorite horror movie. I was fortunate enough to be born in 1981 and so I grew up watching all the great horror franchise movies like Friday 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street, but zombie films in particular have always captivated my imagination. I remember watching Return of the Living Dead at a friend’s house as a kid and it genuinely terrified me. The idea of hordes of zombies running after you while screaming ‘’Brains’’ is definitely something that stuck with me. Obviously, roleplaying games are also something very close to my heart so the idea of adapting Return of the Living Dead felt very natural to me, it’s basically just combining two of the things I love the most.
How did you balance the movie’s dark humor with the horror elements in the game?
I remember reading an article about Dan O’Bannon where it mentioned his experience watching Return of the Living Dead for the first time with an audience. He was genuinely surprised when the audience around him started to laugh at certain parts of the movie, because he set out to write and direct a horror movie, not a comedy. Most of the comedy in Return of the Living Dead comes from how the characters react to what is happening around them, especially Frank and Freddy. There’s something very natural about that tone of comedy, the reactions that the characters have to the horror and ridiculousness of the situation they find themselves in. None of it is purposefully played for laughs. If you contrast that to Part II, which I also love, that film is played for laughs, you can tell the difference. Take the scene in the first film where the headless corpse continues to attack the characters while they flail around trying to subdue it. It’s hilarious but also horrifying at the same time. Part II has zombies tripping over each other and stepping on each other as they rise from the grave, it’s all very deliberate and slapstick.
To bring it back around to the TTRPG, I’ve tried to stick to Dan O’Bannon’s example. The goal has been to create scenarios that place the characters in situations that are horrifying, but also humorous in the right circumstances. Some of the mechanics play into that, especially in the way the zombies react to certain types of damage and injuries, but the comedic part of the game is really in the hands of the players and the GM and how they want to react to what happens in game. You can run this game as a straight up zombie horror experience, or you can go totally silly with it, it’s up to you.
Did you face any challenges in translating the film’s fast, talking zombies into a playable RPG system?
The biggest challenge, mechanically speaking, has been gamifying the almost indestructible nature of the Trioxin Zombies. They’re not like zombies in the Romero films or the Walking Dead. If you cut a Trioxin Zombie’s head off, the corpse is still going to come after you, while the head snaps at your ankles. Chainsaw one in half, and you have a torso crawling on the ground and a pair of legs trying to kick you to death or trip you up. There’s plenty of playtesting to do, but I’ve come up with a system of evolving stat blocks. The base Trioxin Zombie stat block will change and split into multiple stat blocks depending on how much damage of what type is being inflicted upon it. This makes even one Trioxin Zombie a menace to deal with. At the same time, I’m aware that players love killing zombies, that’s part of the genre. So, I wanted to make sure that players could still defeat the zombies, even if truly ‘’killing’’ them is almost impossible.
What kind of RPG mechanics best capture the chaos and panic of a zombie outbreak?
One of our new mechanics is the 2-4-5 Trioxin gas. It’s a deadly poison and very difficult to avoid exposure to. Even trace amounts will immediately reanimate the dead and more concentrated doses will transform the living into zombies through a drawn out and painful process. Because our zombies are created by Trioxin and not a virus, it has to factor into every outbreak in some way. Players risk exposure to Trioxin and becoming a zombie themselves in each of the pre-written scenarios. Coupled with the way that Trioxin Zombies react to damage in unpredictable ways, and you have the perfect ingredients to create utter chaos and panic among the players.
The flip side of this is that if the Trioxin can be contained then that will cut off the source of the zombie outbreak. The scenarios in Return of the Living Dead aren’t necessarily apocalyptic scale events, it can be contained and controlled, which is much harder to do with a virus.
Did you create a new system for this game, or is it based on an existing TTRPG framework?
The core system is Everyday Heroes by Evil Genius Games. When I originally decided to pitch the project to Living Dead Media, I knew that I would need a publisher on board to help realize the project and bring it to life. Evil Genius Games were my first choice, as I love their Everyday Heroes system and it fits the Return of the Living Dead perfectly, with its emphasis on giving players the tools to make characters based on movies. That being said, there are plenty of new mechanics in the book that allow aspects of the Living Dead films to be played out using Everyday Heroes. The aforementioned Trioxin and Zombie rules are the two new core mechanics, but there are also new Classes, Backgrounds, and Professions, which give players the tools they need to create characters in the Living Dead universe.
Are you working with anyone from the film for the adaptation?
Not currently no. Nobody from the original film is involved with the project and we are not using the likenesses of any of the actors. This is largely due to the specifics of the license agreement that in all honesty, I’m not 100% privy to. We will be using the Tarman however!
Will there be elements from the novel (which is a totally different animal) or just from the movie?
The novel is interesting because there’s actually two of them, both titled Return of the Living Dead, and both written by John Russo. The first is John’s original story for a sequel to Night of the Living Dead which was published in 1979, whereas the second is his novelization of the Return of the Living Dead movie based on Dan O’Bannon’s screenplay. I’ll assume we’re talking about the latter, as that is the relevant novel. I did read through it and took various aspects from it to help round out the universe. The great thing about the novelization is that it expands upon certain events not seen in the movie, such as the 1969 ‘’Drummer Boy’’ incident which inspires Night of the Living Dead and the KGB and CIA’s involvement in it. That information was great for building out a timeline for the book that GMs can draw upon. I will add that one of the book’s scenario’s, Children of the Living Dead, does take inspiration from the original 1979 novel as well as another zombie film that John Russo worked on.
How closely does the game follow the events of the movie, and does it expand on the Return of the Living Dead universe?
We consider everything in the first three films to be canon to our game, along with the John Russo novel. There are some small elements from Parts IV and V added in as well. I understand those films, Necropolis and Rave to the Grave, are not as popular with the fanbase and I get that. There are some interesting concepts in those films, however, that have found their way into the RPG, but not much. Mostly some extra zombie types. Our main focus is the original film and then some elements taken from Part II and Part III, mostly Part III.
We definitely expand on the universe, mostly through our adventures. Each takes place in a different decade, starting with Typical Army Fuck Up which details the original Drummer Boy incident in the 60s that inspires Night of the Living Dead. In that scenario, the players get to portray the ‘’real world’’ versions of the characters from Night of the Living Dead. For example, Barbara is the head pathologist at the Pittsburgh VA Hospital when the Trioxin leak happens. Her brother Jonny is a former criminal and handyman who also works at the hospital, whereas Ben is a soldier from the nearby army base recovering from an injury. Harry Cooper is a CIA agent secretly working with the Russians and so forth. I really wanted to play around with the idea that in the Return of the Living Dead Universe, the Night of the Living Dead film exists but it’s based on a real-world incident that the US government covered up.
We also have an adventure called Send More Paramedics that runs concurrently with the events of the 1985 movie. There is another adventure called Children of the Living Dead which is a 1970s rural horror style scenario. Steve Wolsh of Living Dead Media is keen to explore Trioxin and the various shadowy government cover ups in the context of our own world history, so I took steps to create scenarios in which Trioxin has played a part in outbreaks over the decades.
Can players interact with characters or locations from the film?
As mentioned, the Send More Paramedics adventure takes place in Louisville during the events of the 1985 film. There is an opportunity in that adventure to interact with the characters from the film, but it’s not encouraged too strongly as that would break the canon of that movie. That being said, there’s nothing to stop GMs from going that route. The locations though, definitely. In that scenario the characters start off outside the Resurrection Funeral Home and cemetery from the film.
What kind of stories do you see being told in this game—are they meant to be more survival horror, action-focused, or comedic?
I would say a definite mix of all three. Typical Army Fuck Up is action heavy, with a large military presence and a lot of zombies assaulting the VA hospital. Children of the Living Dead has a stronger survival horror feel to it, as the characters are just college kids out in the wilderness who happen to come across a zombie cult. Send More Paramedics has a more comedic feel to it – the players are chased by a hearse hijacked by a gang of zombies in that scenario. It also has a strong survival element, as the characters have to find a safe space before the army’s nuke hits the town.
As far as other stories go, I would say that our RPG can be used to tell any kind of zombie story you can think of. You could put some Trioxin on a space station in the future and have a sci-fi horror game that plays similar to something like Dead Space. You could also go the route of Return of the Living Dead Part III and have a tragic romance story involving a zombie partner. The Everyday Heroes system really allows for a multitude of stories to be told at the table. Plus, there’s nothing stopping you from taking the rules in the Return of the Living Dead and mixing them with one of Evil Genius Game’s other cinematic adventures. One of the things I’m most excited for is hearing about the scenarios that GMs come up with at their tables.
How does the game handle player character death and transformation? Can players become zombies?
Players can 100% become zombies in our game and they are fully playable – no retiring them as NPCs or having them come under GM control. We have a new Origin in the book (Everyday Heroes equivalent to D&D Species/Race) called the Living Dead as well as a specific zombie class. Characters can become exposed to Trioxin in play and transform into zombies. This is a painful process in which the character experiences the stages of death – such as Rigor Mortis – while conscious and aware. A character that dies can also come back as a zombie if they are later exposed to Trioxin.
Is there room for game masters to create their own city-wide outbreaks, or is it more structured?
There’s plenty of room for GMs to create their own outbreaks and scenarios. The standard game as I see it is a localized event in which some zombies run amok, but ultimately they are contained. There’s nothing stopping GMs from expanding on this and creating a full-on zombie apocalypse style game. The only real structure is the presence of Trioxin, and I hope GMs have fun coming up with ways in which it factors into their own games.
What kind of character archetypes can players create?
We have several new Backgrounds, Professions, and Classes based on characters from the films. For example, you can play as a punk who moonlights as a grave robber, an army brat who has a part time job at Uneeda Medical Supply, or a mortician who owns the local crematorium. We have two new Classes, the first is the Postmortem Technician, essentially a zombie handler. These guys work for the government and come equipped with a special gun that can freeze a zombie’s brain as well as a pet zombie fitted to an exosuit. The other Class is called the Rageful Dead, this is based on the character of Julie Walker from Return of the Living Dead Part III. This class is open to Living Dead characters only and is a combat monster who can channel their pain and rage into a weapon.
How do you keep the game from becoming just another generic zombie survival RPG?
The zombies are the key here. Trioxin Zombies are unlike any other kind of zombie out there. They have personality, they can talk, they are smart, they are capable of doing all the things a living person can do. A Romero style zombie can pick up a brick and use it as a crude tool to smash a window. A Trioxin Zombie can pick up the phone and call itself a cab and then eat the driver when they arrive. Because they are essentially people as well, Trioxin Zombies can be reasoned with, you can talk to them, attempt to deceive them, bargain with them. This opens up all manner of scenario possibilities beyond the typical zombie genre.
Will there be a strong emphasis on resource management, or is it more about improvisation and quick thinking?
I would say it’s more about reacting to what is happening around you, so improvisation and quick thinking. Let’s not forget, in the Return of the Living Dead universe, the film Night of the Living Dead exists. One thing a GM can emphasis is that the characters are likely aware of that film. Which only makes things more fun when they try to use tactics from it, such as shooting a zombie in the head, or using fire to frighten zombies away, only for it to not work. Remember, Trioxin Zombies can change depending on the damage inflicted on them. A single zombie can quickly turn into a torso, a severed head, a pair of legs, and an arm, all of which are now trying to kill the characters. If you pour acid over a zombie, it becomes a walking skeleton that now does acid damage. If you set one on fire, you now risk breathing in Trioxin fumes. This system forces the players to think on the fly and try out different weapons and tactics in order to survive.
Are there mechanics in place to encourage the same level of wild, unexpected moments that made the movie so iconic?
I think this is covered in my above answer, but yes absolutely. Just one zombie has the opportunity to cause chaos for a group of players, imagine what an entire cemetery full of them can do.!
How does the game reward or punish reckless behavior, like the kind we see in the film?
I would lean towards recklessness being something that gets the players in trouble for sure, especially in the horror genre. The perfect example is the decision to cremate the first corpse in the movie, this leads to the Trioxin entering the atmosphere and resurrecting hundreds of more zombies. Outside of the Postmortem Technician Class, it’s unlikely that the players will have a clue what they are dealing with and how to best respond to it, likely leading to desperation and reckless behavior. This is most likely going to be punished with players suddenly facing multiple animated zombie body parts that are more difficult to deal with than the original lone zombie.
Is there a main Timeline the game will be set in? 80s?
The main timeline of the game runs from the Drummer Boy Incident of 1969 to the early 2000s, so basically from Night of the Living Dead to Rave to the Grave. I’ll just emphasize again that the latter two Return of the Living Dead movies only have a minimal presence in the RPG, but we do consider the events in them to be canon as far as the timeline is concerned. In my mind the default setting is the 1980s, but that’s just because I feel a close connection to that decade. GMs are free to set their games in any time period. The assumed main timeline runs from the 1960s, when Trioxin is first created, all the way to present day. Each adventure in the book is set in a specific decade with advice for GMs on how to run a game in that time period. Future adventures will likely take a similar approach, exploring the impact that zombies and Trioxin have had on history.
Will the zombies be Shamblers, Sprinters, or a mix?
The zombies have by default the same Speed as they did when alive, so they are basically as fast as a living person.
Will there be rules for playing the Living Dead, or is it a survivors only setting?
There are complete rules on playing the Living Dead, including all the benefits and drawbacks that this entails, not to mention some specific Living Dead backgrounds and a Class. As an example, the Send More Paramedics adventure assumes that the players are survivors trying to escape from a zombie driven hearse. A GM can switch that around and instead have the players portray the zombies.
Will there be special abilities for different zombie types?
We do have different zombie types, the most obvious being the Tarman, which is a zombie from the 1969 incident who has been confined to a Trioxin drum for many years. The Tarman is quite disgusting to behold, essentially being a rotting skeleton held together by melted flesh and dripping in Trioxin. We also have stat blocks for various zombie parts – torsos, legs, and such. Smaller zombie parts, such as arms and zombie heads act more like traps, as do the split dogs. We have some other special zombies, such as the boner which is a skeleton (think the first cemetery zombie that rises from the grave), we also have the megamouth zombie based on Trash from the movie. Lastly we also have Cyberzombies and Zombabies based on some of the zombie types from Necropolis. To answer the question, yes! All these different zombies have their own special abilities, attacks, and weaknesses that vary from the standard Trioxin Zombie stat block. We also have the Trioxin Template – this allows GMs to take any existing stat block from Everyday Heroes and transform it into a Trioxin Zombie. Trioxin will reanimate any dead creature, so if you want zombie tigers, zombies sharks, zombie kung fu masters, etc., you can!
How long has this project been in development?
I originally pitched the project to Living Dead Media in August last year and started writing draft material for Evil Genius Games in late September.
What kind of research did you do while designing the game?
I watched and rewatched the movies over and over again. Even now, I’ll put one of them on in the background while I’m working in case I’ve missed something I can add to the RPG. Additionally, I got a hold of the John Russo novel, as well as the original screenplay. My goal was to gamify as much of the universe as I could, and I think I’ve been successful in that. Other research involved watching the More Brains documentary, hunting down interviews with the crew and cast and just tracking down as much information about this universe as I could. Mechanics wise, I was already quite familiar with Everyday Heroes, having written a couple of 5E books myself. But I also made sure to read up on their other cinematic adventures and sourcebooks to get a feel for how they put together their books and what the expectation would be on my end.
What was the biggest challenge in getting the game made?
It’s been a surprisingly smooth process, which is quite rare when creating an RPG. When I first contacted Living Dead Media, I didn’t expect them to be that interested in an RPG based on Return of the Living Dead, but to my surprise they were. The next challenge was to find a publisher who was on board. That was also a fast process. I contacted Dave Scott, CEO of Evil Genius Games, and he was on board pretty much straight away. Within a couple of weeks, the project had grown from an idea into a three-way meeting between myself, Steve Wolsh, and Dave Scott and we were all excited to see it happen. I really cannot thank Dave and Steve enough, at any point either of these guys could have said ‘’no thanks’’ and walked away, but they didn’t. Dave Scott in particular is a stand-up guy, he could have easily signed the license with Living Dead Media and written the book in-house at Evil Genius without including me, but he didn’t do that. I can’t say enough good things about working with Dave and Evil Genius on this book.
So, as far as challenges go, I think the biggest challenge has been physically writing the book. As a Freelance writer, I often have multiple writing projects to work on simultaneously, so dedicating my weekends and evenings to writing Return of the Living Dead all while trying to avoid burn out has definitely been a challenge. That being said, the first draft is now completed and I’m looking forward to seeing how it’s received by Evil Genius.
Are there any expansions or additional content planned after release?
I’m honestly not too sure. I can see room for more scenarios set in the Living Dead universe and I have ideas for more. I’m currently thinking about putting together a zombie romance scenario tentatively titled Romero and Juliet. I’ve done my best to ensure that everything a GM needs to run Return of the Living Dead is included in this book, but there’s always room for more content. Everyday Heroes has a great fanbase who are very creative and always coming up with ideas and new content, so I have every faith that future writers will come up with new character archetypes, zombies, and such for Return of the Living Dead.
Where can fans expect to get a copy, and will there be any special editions or bonus content?
We have had some very early discussions about a special cover edition of Return of the Living Dead featuring an iconic zombie character from the films. That all depends on if an agreement can be made with the actress who played that role, so no promises on that one. As far as bonus content, I believe the plan is to take the project to Kickstarter in Q2 this year, but at this point I have no idea about any additional content that could be part of stretch goals. We have talked about miniatures, because who doesn’t want a little Tarman mini for their games? That being said, I am just a freelance writer, those kinds of decisions are for Evil Genius Games to make. If any of your readers have ideas, by all means jump on the Evil Genius Games Discord and let Dave and the team know what you want to see!
