5 Popular Zombie Survival Tactics

Summary

September 15, 2009: The article details 5 popular tactics in the event of a zombie outbreak - and why they are a bad idea:

• Raiding the gun store: Everyone will have the same idea, making for a heated fight - and the store owner will have lots of guns and ammunition to defend himself.
• Get Out of Town: Everyone will have the same idea, resulting in everyone getting stuck in a traffic jam worse than any rush hour - and become zombie food.
• Fortify Your Base: Holing up in a fortress to withstand a siege normally comes with the hope that the besieging force will run out of food or get bored - neither of which applies to a zombie horde.
• Conserve Ammo - Use Melee Weapons When Possible: It's hard to get bitten by a humanoid opponent if you don't want to. However, if you beat your opponent with a club or slice it with a sword, your chances of coming into contact with zombie bodily fluids will increase drastically - which will turn you into a zombie infectee.
• Always Aim for the Head: Sure, a head shot might be the only way to destroy a zombie. However, if you are facing a crowd of them and can't flee, disabling them is a higher priority - and a leg shot might be entirely enough for that. Sometimes you just don't have the time to aim for the head…

See Also

• Zombie Apocalypse

Source

Bibliography

1. Original article

Game and Story Use

• Both the players and the player characters will know the "standard" zombie survival tactics above from popular fiction (or random Internet people who don't know what they are talking about). Thus, they are likely to make those same mistakes - which the GM can then use against them.
• To be honest, these could play either way depending on your zombies and the circumstances in which you find yourself … but they are good examples of subversions.