Palm City (zombie rpg)

Palm City is a derelict coastal city. The center has narrow streets, abandoned shops, and the museum (an evacuation point that became a trap). The coast has beaches and boardwalks. The danger increases at night (Runaways). The Intelligent could be in any building, waiting.

The Bastion

The Bastion: a military installation on an island, it existed before the Outbreak. Walls, gates, protocols, military hierarchy. Meritocratic dictatorship: everyone has a military role except children (up to age 15). The better you do your job, the higher your rank. The bridges were blown up by military order. The Wall is the barrier that separates the Bastion from the NPCs waiting on the other side. The narrator (a white-haired man with the speed of Runaway) is a problem for the system.

The Wall

The Wall is the Bastion's wall facing the sea. On the other side, hundreds of thousands of NPCs stand, watching, waiting. They don't move. They do nothing. They just wait. If you're on top of a building and see NPCs looking up, don't stay.

Virus: Outbreak approximately 25 years ago. Transmitted by bite, blow, or prolonged exposure to an infected NPC. This is why everyone wears a mask when leaving the Bastion. The bridges connecting the Bastion island to the mainland were destroyed to contain the infection.

NPCs: Infected humans. They don't eat the body, they eat the brain (they open the head and extract the brain). They don't enter places: they wait at the door. Sunlight stops them and reveals them (if an NPC is in the sun, it remains still and repeats phrases and gestures on a loop, like a video game NPC). They camouflage themselves: they look like normal people, wear normal clothes, and repeat prerecorded phrases. Progression: Young (slow, weak) → Runaway (fast, operates at night) → Intelligent (talks, plans, uses weapons and tactics) → Ambulance (drives an ambulance, uses weapons, leads hordes of Runaways).

Door Rule: If an NPC sees you inside a building, it will not enter. It will wait at the door for you to come out.
Rule of the Sun: The sun stops NPCs and reveals them. If you see someone in the sun repeating phrases or gestures, it's an NPC.
Water rule: NPCs cannot cross water (that's why the Bastion is on an island).
Rule of noise: noise attracts NPCs. A gunshot, a scream, an ambulance... everything gets their attention.
Rule of the Intelligent: If an NPC points a gun at you, it's no longer an NPC. It's a hunter. The Intelligent plan, wait, and use tactics.

Extra:

The Ambulance is an Intelligent who drives an ambulance through Palm City. A horde of Runaways chases after him. He can use firearms. The Rule of Door, Water, and Sun still applies to him. If you hear an ambulance at night, it's already too late. There's no safe way to face him alone.