I did another solo playthrough for one of the new starter adventures I designed for Super Dead, using three pregen characters provided and one of the provided hooks.

Again, the difficulty of doing a soloplay of a prewritten adventure that you wrote is substantial because, you're eliminating some of the "play to find out"-ness of the adventure.

I took this playthrough a bit faster, because I had a more compressed time slot. I did shorthand notes instead of full on in character conversations, and approached it more as a tactical war game with a few "RP moments". I think there would be a lot more fun coming out of this in a real three-person group, but overall, still a good experience.

Some details before we begin:

• I used the pregens: Ameila, Brandon, and Devin
• I used the provided hook for "Healmenowepheren"
• I used a 30m timer for the motorcycle gang to show up

Entering the Hospital

Amelia scouted with her eyesight first, spotting two zombies. She used her powers of precision aim and a bow and arrow to headshot the two zombies, taking them out quietly and efficiently before the gang headed into the hospital.

Inside, they looked around the lobby, checking in on some of the corpses. Brandon looked at the security guard booth and Devin found the location of the pharmacy on a big sign in the middle of the room. They decided to take the path down the West Hall, but wanted Devin to scout it out first.

Devin used his dust form to scout the hallway without giving up their location. He saw six zombies shambling about in the hall and the pharmacy in a circle wing at the end of the hall.

West Hallway

The group hatches a plan to lure the zombies in with Amelia's arrow fire, then she'll run, Devin will draw them away, turn into dust, and Amelia and Brandon will lock the door into the West Hall by roughing it up. A dangerous plan to use an ally as bait.

Amelia shoots arrows putting their plan in motion, sniping three zombies as they approach the lobby. Then she uses her quick reflexes to run away. Dustin plays his part to a tee, going into dust form only after he has drawn the remaining three zombies away from the entrance and his two allies are in the West Hall. Brandon bends the bars that move to open the doors – effectively disabling them.

Unfortunately, this makes some noise, and brings a zombie out of an adjacent hallway. Brandon rushes up and dispatches this zombie with a huge, super-strong punch to the head.

The pharmacy door is locked, with a gate in front, and Devin's not going to be able to dust under and back with the medicine, so they decide Brandon has to break it down. Brandon does, but this makes even more noise, and calls even more zombies.

A lucky roll here and only 5 zombies are inbound from adjacent parts of the hospital.

The boys rush in, leaving Amelia to watch their back for zombies. Brandon finds the pills they're looking for, but not before Devin topples a stack of bottles. The zombies have popped out the nearby units and are moving towards them with hunger.

Amelia looses three arrows for headshots before the zombies are in hand-to-hand range. At that distance, Devin goes into dust form and does all he can to blind the zombies, while Brandon smashes the two that remain with a crowbar he's been carrying.

The group has the healmenowepheren and can see the finish line, when a huge roar like a dozen cracks of thunder comes from outside the hospital. The motorcycle gang has arrived and a horde of zombies (18) is on the way.

Fighting their Way Out

Zombies from the units adjacent the West Hall emerge into the hall and stalk towards the entrance. Piling themselves up at the door. The group is trapped. Amelia raises her both and keeps watch, while the others duck behind cover.

Shotgun fire can be heard in the main lobby. Then the small windows to the doors to the West Hall are smashed, and zombies go sprawling onto the ground. Every volley of fire, no doubt, giving their location up to the living dead.

More than a dozen bikers emerge from the lobby into the hallway, breaking down the door, and Amelia shouts at them to freeze. They yell back that they don't have the time and move on. They tell Amelia to get out of their way and they won't hurt her. This is good enough for Amelia, but as they begin to move past the gang, a massive bat swoops in and begins to pluck bikers.

The bikers fire back, but it seems like there's a field of energy protecting it. Then flashes of light, and bikers start to drop. Six go down quickly, before they start to flee.

Amelia places a few arrows into bikers as they flee, taking care to avoid the bat and whatever it is teleporting about.

After the ruckus, the bat transforms into a woman – covered in thick brown hair. And she tells them they have to get out of here if they want to live, excoriating them for interrupting her experiment, but flying away without threat.

A deadly gambit

The thee rush into the lobby and see a half dozen survivors emerge from the North Wing into the lobby around the same time, looking scared and confused.

Amelia looks out front door of the hospital and sees a horde bearing down on the facility in the distance. Her blood pressure ticks up.

"Is there any other way out?", the three plead with the survivors.

"What if we hide here?", suggests one of the survivors, a security guard who tells the mutants about the magnetic locking system that should keep the horde out.

"Couldn't they break through the door?"

"Then we'd all die for sure."

Then Devin comes up with an idea: the same trap play from before except in reverse; double or nothing.

Not seeing a better option the group agrees.

Amelia fires arrows into the horde as they stumble towards the hospital, letting them know they're on the right path. Then runs to hide with the rest of the survivors and Brandon in the North Hall. Devin sits at the entrance of the West Hall, and hollering out to the zombies: "Come get me, you smelly dead bastards."

The zombies trudge towards Devin, who lures them down the hall. The stress of the situation swarms everyone, but Devin steels himself (10!), waiting until the horde is almost upon him to power surge, turn into dust, and swoop under their feet.

Brandon rushes over, power surges himself (7 successes!) and tosses the map of the hospital and the security booth in front of the hall door, trapping the undead inside.

The survivors now flee as a group into the parking lot, and then take off on foot... now with the unenviable challenge of finding a spot that can protect and hide ten survivors.

Review

This was a ton of fun. The small challenges were easy, but satisfying, and the constant presence of zombies throughout gave a ton of "zombie apocalypse" flavor. The motorcycle gang versus three sisters fight felt a little "GM hand of god", but the scene that it set up, with two huge rolls from Devin and Brandon, with huge stakes on the line, made for a great payoff.

An hour and change well spent.