For the Return of the Living Dead‘s 40th anniversary, official and using the Everyday Heroes RPG system (free quickstart), there’s a Living Dead roleplaying game.
Evil Genius Games set the Kickstarter target at $30,000, and with two weeks to collect more funds, the campaign has raised about twice that amount. We’ve until June 24th to join the crowdfunding campaign.
Do not get distracted while battling the living dead. One potential distraction was that free quickstart for Everyday Heroes, and a second in Geek Native’s interview with designer Nick Lowe, which sets out how Return of the Living Dead is a very different experience to the Night of the Living Dead.
This cinematic adventure is set in a zombie genre where the undead can be intelligent, extremely tough, and have an attitude. They are reanimated by Trioxin and, driven by pain, hunt for brains.
Weighing in at 126 pages, the adventure book lets you play through the events of 1969 and, if characters survive, the aftermath. Okay, scratch that; with this game, they might get to stay in the game even if they don’t survive.
The game’s rules include a zombification process and statistics for various types of zombies, such as Split Dogs and Tarman. There are new classes for Everyday Heroes as well, such as the Final Girl.
There’s a lot of tempting merch on the Kickstarter, and I especially like the brain dice.
The Return of the Living Dead Cinematic Sourcebook is a 126-page softcover book. This Everyday Heroes supplement features 1 new Origin, 3 new Classes, a host of zombie statblocks, and includes adventures set in different timelines within the world, illustrated with art by Christopher P. Tyner of Dreamslayer Studios.
Backers who leap in with $30 in support get the print and PDF editions of Return of the Living Dead Cinematic Sourcebook. There is also access to a host of add-ons.
Those who reach $50 also get the Everyday Heroes Core Rulebook in PDF, a VTT package of choice, a Syrinscape Soundset and access to Evil Genius’s D&D Beyond competitor Sidekick.
Newbies are recommended to consider the $75 tier, which includes the Everyday Heroes rulebook in both print and PDF, as well as the Return of the Living Dead adventure.
The $80 tier offers all the digital goodies of the $50 mark, such as Sidekick, and adds the Return of the Living Dead print.
The variant cover of Return of the Living Dead is the single reward at $125.
At $150, backers get the variant cover, the standard PDF edition, digital goodies, blood splatter dice with bag, Troxin barrel dice roller and dice tray.
If necessary, for individuals transitioning from not having Everyday Heroes to fully embracing the zombies, there is a $250 tier that includes the core rules in print, the Variation Living Dead cover, and all the merchandise from the previous tier.
The highest tier, $500, has zombie plushies, signed and numbered prints, plus all the gaming goodies. Not, though, the brain dice as those are only available through the add-on system.
Evil Genius are suggesting November 25 for the digital zombies and December 25 for the print.
