Mein Zombie

Yeah, I was at Omaha Beach. I came in on the fourth wave. We thought we were lucky -- that the other guys would have cleared the place for us by the time we landed. Riiiight . . . no such luck. As we piled outta the boat, Heine machine gun fire ripped up the water, mud, and soldiers all around me. Me and only about two-thirds of the company made it to cover.

We thought we were the first ones to actually make a go at flushing those damn machine gun nests. I mean, if anyone had any balls they would have taken those things out by now, right? That's what we told ourselves anyway. We broke through the Jerrie line and in behind 'em. My sergeant was in the lead as we came at the pillbox from behind. There were half a dozen Krauts just standin' there -- like they didn't have a care in the world.

On the counta three, we jumped out and gunned 'em all down. Or thought we did, anyway. The bastards took the bullets like they were mosquito bites. They just turned around, raised their rifles and charged. We shot 'em as they came on. I musta hit one guy a dozen times before he got to me. Then, it was hand to hand and things got ugly. While we're wrestlin' with these guys, tryin' to figure out why they won't go down, we start takin' fire from off to the left.

There's a damn squad of Jerries shootin' right into the brawl, not carin' if they hit us or their own guys. We got the worst of it. These unkillable soldiers took down half of us and the snipers took down the rest. When I saw one of the Krauts bitin' and eatin' my buddy Ryan, I just turned tail and ran back for the beach. Fuck this, I said. I took a hit in the leg on my way out. What the fuck happened up there, sir? What the fuck is goin' on?

History

The year was 1944 and the war had begun to turn against Nazi Germany. Its early successes were a thing of the past, and its armies began to give way before the combined assaults of the Soviet Union in the east and the United States and Great Britain in the west. Hitler, desperate to prove the superiority of the German people, searched for any weapon he could use against the oncoming Allied armies. While some scientists developed rockets and assault rifles, and strove to unlock the secrets of the atom, a secret Nazi research team was working an entirely different line of inquiry.

From its earliest days, the Nazi party had been affiliated with occult organizations. Hitler himself was obsessed with mystical matters. His quests for objects of occult significance from the Holy Grail to the Ark of the Covenant are legendary. What was not so legendary was the evil dictator's fascination with overcoming the inevitability of death. "Conquer death and we shall conquer the world," he would proclaim to his supernatural researchers as they combed through confiscated ancient texts stolen from countless libraries across Nazi-occupied Europe.

As the Allies prepared for D-Day, Hitler's top-secret Occult Corps got ready to repulse the invasion. The researchers had, in a matter of speaking, conquered death. Although the secret to immortally still eluded them, they had achieved the next best thing: the living dead. Based on ancient formulae and magic rituals, the Nazi's developed a serum that would raise their soldiers from the dead once they had fallen in battle. The result: an army that could never be stopped.

D-Day finally came and Allied troops swarmed onto the beaches of Normandy, facing fortified German positions. Up and down the beaches of western France, the American and British troops fought their way forward and into the German lines. Then, they discovered the most horrifying fact of all on this bloodiest of days: the damn Germans weren't dying. Undead soldiers continued to fight on, taking ten or twenty shots to the chest and still kept coming. Although they could not reload their empty rifles, they could use their bayonets with deadly power.

The Allies held the advantage in the air, but the German zombies drove the ground forces back onto the beaches and into the water. Some discovered that a well-placed shot to the brain felled these undead soldiers, but this did little to usage the panic and fear most felt at the sight of dead soldiers who kept on fighting. Given the pure terror value of such troops, the invasion was a failure and Germany held on to all of occupied France.

Hitler was more than pleased with his new weapon. Careful use of propaganda and the complete victory against the allied invasion helped him convince his living soldiers of the value of these terrifying undead soldiers. Soon, the German chemical industry began mass producing the zombie serum for all of Germany to use. Hitler was letting the world know that no one would ever take back what he had conquered, that the Germans would keep on fighting until long after they died. This war was not going to end anytime soon.

Op Sit

The date is 1945 and the war in Europe stands at a stalemate. After the repulsing the Allied forces on D-Day, the Germans turned east and stalled the Soviet Army advance, thanks again to the hordes of living dead soldiers. Now the two armies lie locked in continuing combat in the Ukraine. On the Western Front, the Allies are fighting on in Italy, but the Germans have launched a massive counter offensive led by zombie troops.

Within Germany and occupied France, the Nazi propaganda machine is in overdrive, expounding upon the new super serum that makes its soldiers invincible in combat. Since this is the first time in a long while that the German army is advancing rather than retreating, the people seem satisfied with their government's lies. Few know the truth about the serum and those that hear the stories fear placing any credit in such tales.

The Allies have captured several zombie bodies and are working hard trying to analyze the foreign substance in their blood. They have not yet managed to capture a still-functional zombie, something they would very much like to do in order to discover the creature's weaknesses. For now, General Eisenhower has decreed that the truth about these zombies must remain a secret, although thousands of wounded and frightened servicemen have already spread the tale all over England and sent letters home about the horrors they saw at Normandy. The papers have run several stories about German super-soldiers who would not die no matter how many times they were shot.

Hitler wants every German inoculated with the serum and the chemical companies are all working overtime to refit their factories for the drug's production. Meanwhile, Allied spies and a few defectors (men and women too horrified by the zombies to keep on with the Nazis), have reported Hitler's plan. The Allies have intensified their efforts to bomb the factories as much as possible, but many of them have already been moved far inland, either out of range or at the extreme range of Allied bombers.

The troops in Italy and Russia are getting plenty of first-hand experience in facing these zombies. The Germans usually march the living dead soldiers in tight formation, armed with rifles and bayonets. The zombies can fire the rifles, although with little accuracy, but they have trouble reloading them. They are pretty effective at smashing and slashing with their rifle butts and bayonets, however. The live troops, equipped with machine guns and explosives, come in behind the dead ones, using them as cover. Simple as this tactic is, again and again it has shown itself to be effective in forcing the Allies back.

Destroying a zombie requires putting a bullet through its brain. Nothing else seems to bother them. They lose limbs, have gaping holes blown in their chest, and still they keep on coming. They have a limited intelligence. They do not attack anyone wearing a German uniform and they follow the chain of command from when they were living soldiers. Thus, German officers can still give their dead soldiers orders and expect them to be obeyed. They can use simple tools like rifles and doorknobs, but aren't quite together enough to drive a tank or operate a radio. Another favorite tactic is to cut a hole in a zombie's chest, fill it with explosives and then run it at the enemy with a detonator. The zombie can follow instructions well enough to activate the bomb when it gets within range of the enemy.

Only those who have received an injection of the zombie serum have the potential of returning from the dead upon death. The serum must be administered at least once a month in order to retain its potency.

The zombies do still need to eat, and like most of their kind their tastes run towards the flesh of the living. Usually, the Nazi walking dead feast on the corpses of their fallen enemies once the battle is done. While the problem hasn't arisen thus far, should the zombies run out of fresh food (say, for instance, from lack of combat), they might well turn on their masters.

Story Ideas

Bring 'em Back Dead

The heroes are a group of soldiers on the Italian front, fighting squads of zombies and live German troops. A few firefights with the zombie menace should give the heroes an idea of what they're up against. Then they draw an important mission: capture some of these zombies "alive" and bring it back for closer study. The Germans know better than to let the Allies capture any active zombies if they can help it, so this is not going to be an easy job.

Capturing a zombie requires that the heroes immobilize it. On its own, this probably would not be much of a problem since the Nazi zombies are no stronger than they were when alive. However, the Germans always keep their zombie troops in large packs, knowing that their fighting power increases dramatically when they work in such numbers, much like the ancient Greek Phalanxes. Also, the heroes have to deal with live snipers in the rear, picking off anyone trying to steal their undead comrades.

The army would prefer it if the heroes brought the zombie back intact, i.e., without blowing off its legs and arms. They are provided with heavy duty manacles and leg chains as well as a leather hood for covering the zombie's face and dangerous mouth. Once they get back with the creature, the testing begins, but one is never enough for a truly scientific investigation. The heroes may be out in the field again soon.

Blowing the Chemical Plants

This is a deep cover raid into enemy territory. The heroes must journey into Germany itself, deep behind enemy lines, and try to destroy one of the factories manufacturing the zombie serum. If possible, they should confiscate some of the serum as well, and gather intelligence on just how the stuff is actually made. This means breaking into the factory and snooping around, all the while avoiding both living and undead guards.

The adventure can become more complicated if they meet a German scientist who wants to defect to the Allies. He can reveal every secret behind the Nazi zombie project, including all of its weaknesses and how the zombies are made. The trouble is, how do they get this frail old man out of German? That's up to the heroes to figure out. We can't tell them everything!

Character Creation

Given the time setting of Mein Zombies, character creation choices must be modified. The money values of the Resources Quality should be divided by five. The Minority Drawback is worth 3 points. The Computers, Computer Hacking, Computer Programming and Electronic Surveillance skills are generally unavailable. Finally, the Archetypes presented in Chapter Two: Survivors cannot be used.