Zombie Road RPG: How We Survived the Apocalypse

It came out of nowhere. On a completely ordinary June day, a mysterious message titled "Exclusive Invitation to Test Zombie Road TTRPG" appeared in the imago mailbox. The opening sentence, written in broken Czech via a translator, hinted at international communication. But let's be honest, those two unconventional words were enough to grab our attention – zombie and RPG.

Zombie Road RPG is originally a Hungarian RPG. Fortunately, we got the chance to play with the English version, for which we are incredibly grateful to the publisher, Dragonmount Press, who contacted us. In this review, I won't describe the mechanics in detail or reveal major spoilers. The campaign launches on Gamefound sometime in September. So, this article is more of a sneak peek than a full review.

I'm not a huge fan of zombie movies. I've seen a few, of course, and I didn't avoid the The Walking Dead series either. So, the concept of the undead isn't unknown to me. However, what I truly love is the game The Last Of Us, and among zombie flicks, my all-time favorite is the comedy Shaun of the Dead. When the opportunity arose to not only test a brand-new TTRPG but also to experience an adventure in a non-fantasy world (meaning no elves or magic), I had to try it. And I knew exactly which people to approach for this occasion. A good party is the foundation of success! I cast myself in the role of the Game Master. I've been a GM for Dračí Hlídka for about 4 years. On top of that, I play some DnD, Stargate RPG, and I'm really looking forward to when Mytago releases gems like The Witcher RPG and Fallout RPG in Czech. My geek heart is soaring!

But back to Zombie Road RPG. This game caught my eye graphically at first glance. Blood splatters, grime, civilization at its absolute lowest, and slightly sarcastic humor (because that's the last thing you have left in a world like this) really drew me in.

In the game, everyone plays for themselves. That's a breath of fresh air for the stale, fantasy-saturated sails of the genre. Your own skills and experience give players bonus points at the start, helping to determine their usefulness. My party, for example, included an IT specialist who spends his free time doing full-contact combat under the auspices of MFC Slezsko (Historic Medieval Battles). It was logical that he got an extra point for combat skills and the art of using maces, machetes, axes, etc.

Another great feature, and a huge thumbs up in my book, is the incredibly simple rules. The cheat sheet on the back of the character sheet contains everything a player needs and works as a great crib sheet for the Game Master too. Reading the manual cover-to-cover isn't strictly necessary for players. For the GM, however, the manual serves as both a guide and a bestiary. It offers a framework of the world the players are in. And why just a framework? Well, because Zombie Road RPG takes place in our world. The one you see when you look out the window. And it goes a step further. Ideally, it should take place in a location the players know well. For us, that was Ostrava, where we all come from and whose nooks and crannies we know like the back of our hands.

Thanks to using a real map and the ability to click through how long a journey takes and what interesting locations players might encounter along the way, creating the basic route took only a few minutes. Some places even begged for clichés, which I decided to use conscientiously. Like placing a guild of cannibals in a "for unknown reasons" still-functioning fast food joint (wink, wink).

The Zombie Road RPG mechanics also feature a very imaginative way to use your Endurance in favor of a dice roll, but at a cost. I think this mechanic reflects real life very well. Endurance points can be gained in various ways during the game and aren't a static number. Whenever a big challenge arises, you can work with them.

For example – if you roll like a total loser while trying to kick down a door, you can use an Endurance point to slightly boost the dice result to the level where you succeed, but with a penalty. You want to save your Endurance points, so you kick the door down. In the process, you bruise your toe (and you're injured). That's the price for doing things at half-throttle.

Or you use more of your Endurance points – even at the risk that you might miss them later. You kick the door down like a boss… but if you run into a zombie behind that door, well… we'll talk about that another time.

Zombie Road RPG is an open world with minimal restrictions. In practice, I found it nice to save time and planning by preparing various reward and encounter tables in advance. When my party went looking for something, a dice roll decided if they found it (1-3 meant they didn't find it, 4-6 meant they did). This mechanic isn't in the rules, but it came in handy because in a post-apo world, it's all about searching.

Of course, you can decide in advance that no one will find anything at this or that location. Just no. Or you can give your party freedom and leave the result to chance, i.e., the dice.

Probably the only unconventional thing for me as a GM was the whole theme of the first adventure. According to the rules, a "fetch quest" is practically the theme of one campaign (and the manual mentions that the party can play it that way). But Zombie Road RPG looks around the next corner. The authors want the world unfolding under your hands not to end with the self-serving discovery of a cure. They ask what comes after its discovery. Will it work? Won't it? Do people want the world to be like it was before? Or are they actually comfortable with the chaos and uncertainty, and will they try to destroy the cure?

This part can be quite complex for GMs who are used to being led by the hand, having a table for everything, and thirty pages of lore. After all, I have a feeling that for some, the openness and freedom of Zombie Road RPG will be a thorn in their side. However, if you want to try a game that lets you act independently, supports your imagination, and trusts your skills as a storyteller and player, I definitely recommend visiting the Zombie Road RPG website. You can also follow their Instagram or check out the videos on YouTube.

author Eva Lassler