Good discussion.
First, I think you'll find Dead Reign brings zombies to life. Er . . . no pun intended.
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We cover a lot about zombies in great detail. We also include zombie fighting tactics (and rules). The emphasis of this game is fighting zombies, surviving in a world dominated by zombies, and taking that world back!
I don't know how it compares to Max Brook's World War Z because I made a point of not reading it. But I can tell you that my zombie experts, consultants and zombie-fanatics (guys really nuts about zombies) have gone wild over the Dead Reign RPG. And I mean absolutely wild! Campaigns are cropping up or being planned all over the place. Awesome. Game on!!!
I think anybody who loves the zombie genre will enjoy Dead Reign. I know its a blast to play and can be made much more than a beer and pretzel game.
As for magic and psionics: If you want them in your game drop them in it. It's as easy as that. All Josh did was take our standard magic and psionic system, rules, and spells and psionic descriptions and said here ya go. There were no new magic spells or psionic powers. That's the beauty of having one Megaversal system of rules, you can mix and match, tweak and combine anything you want from any of our games. Easy.
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HOWEVER, I suggest you do not do so. I found that the way I set up Dead Reign makes for an intense, heroic and fun gaming experience. Try it before you tweak it.
If you want to use Josh's original premiss for the more supernatural setting, there is The Rifter #40 as your guideline. Furthermore, because I did NOT consider that some small percentage of Rifter readers would feel disappointed that the Hilden/Sanford "supernatural storyline" was deleted, we are considering printing that material (Brulyx Alien Intelligence, the Death Priests, the Immortal, etc.) in an upcoming issue of The Rifter -- possibly as soon as issue #45, January 2009.
As for the absense of magic and psionics making Dead Reign less unique . . . I disagree, but that's probably a matter of opinion.
So far, the majority of Palladium gamers and zombie fans we are hearing from are loving Dead Reign and I invite them to share their cheerful views, thoughts, comments and reviews in this and other Dead Reign Threads.
Keep those imaginations burning bright.
Sincerely,
Kevin "Zombieda" Siembieda
Publisher, Writer & Game Designer
November 20, 2008