Character

Character covers everything about the survivor: the occupation and traits picked at the start, the skills earned in play, the moodles that show how the body and mind are doing, and the health panel that tracks every wound. The game opens by calling these the end times, and death is permanent. Knowing the character's limits is the first step to living longer than the last one.

All Character Categories

Character Creation

A new character starts with a name, an occupation and a set of traits. The occupation decides the starting skills and the trait points. Custom Occupation gives 8 points for a build made entirely from traits. Veteran costs 8 points and starts as a trained shooter.

Traits then spend or return points. Positive traits such as Athletic, Strong or Fast Learner cost points. Negative traits such as Smoker, Slow Healer or Deaf give points back. Some pairs rule each other out, such as Brave and Cowardly. The final build must balance its points.

Every character starts with a key ring and an ID card in their own name. A Park Ranger, a Police Officer or a Firefighter also carries a Badge, and a Doctor carries a Pager.

Skills and Progress

Skills run from level 0 to level 10. They cover melee and firearms, crafting, farming, survival and the body itself. Experience comes from doing the task. Skill books multiply that experience, and some TV shows and VHS tapes grant it directly.

Fitness and Strength are passive skills. They rise through running, carrying loads and exercise from the Health menu, but overdoing it causes muscle strain. These two skills also set traits during play. A character at Fitness 9 becomes Athletic, while a character at Strength 0 or 1 becomes Puny.

Movement and Carrying

The game's guide covers movement first. Walking is quiet, while running and sprinting are loud and can attract the dead. Sneaking keeps the character low, and hiding beside short fences and vehicles works best. The guide warns that crouching will not stop the undead from seeing or hearing a survivor who gets too close. Sneaking also uses more endurance than walking.

Carrying has limits. The guide explains that Strength and moodles set how much a character can carry. Items in equipped bags weigh less than items in the main inventory, and each bag has its own capacity and weight reduction. A heavy load also makes climbing tall fences harder. The Strong and Stout traits raise the carrying limit, while Weak and Puny lower it.

Moodles

Moodles are the status icons for the character's needs. The game's guide says that green is good and red is bad. Each moodle has up to four levels, each with its own name, such as Peckish, Hungry, Very Hungry and Starving to Death.

The most common moodles track hunger, thirst, tiredness, endurance, panic, stress, boredom and unhappiness. Others warn of bleeding, pain, sickness, a cold, being wet, heat, cold and a heavy load. Two final moodles mark the end of a run: Deceased and Zombified.

Health and Injuries

The health panel shows the body part by part. It covers the Head, Neck, Upper Torso, Lower Torso, Groin, each hand, forearm, upper arm, thigh, shin and foot. Overall health runs from OK through Slight damage, Minor damage, Moderate damage and Severe damage, down to Critical damage, Terminal damage and Deceased.

Injuries come in many kinds. The panel names Scratched, Laceration, Deep Wound, Bitten, Burned, Fracture, Bleeding, Lodged Bullet, Lodged Glass Shards and Infected. Treated wounds show as Bandaged, Dirty Bandage, Stitched or Splinted. The game's guide explains that rags ripped from clothing work as bandages. It also says to disinfect a wound or bandage to avoid infection.

Fast Healer "Recovers quickly from injuries and illness." Slow Healer recovers slowly. Painkillers ease pain while a wound heals.

Infection

There are two kinds of infection. A wound infection comes from dirt, dirty bandages and dirty or bloody clothes. The Knox Virus comes from the dead. Clean bandages and washing prevent the first, but never the second.

The default sandbox setting spreads the virus through blood and saliva. Infection mortality defaults to "2-3 Days", and reanimation defaults to "0-1 Minutes". The symptoms follow the Sick moodle from Queasy to Nauseous, Sick and Fever. The Resilient trait slows the rate of zombification, and Prone to Illness speeds it up. Thick-skinned lowers the chance of being scratched or bitten in the first place.

Nutrition and Temperature

The game's guide advises a balanced diet, or the character may gain or lose weight. Food carries calories, carbohydrates, proteins and fats, and these change body weight over time. The Nutrition sandbox option turns weight change on or off. Weight traits such as Low Weight, High Weight and Very High Weight mark the body's weight. Fast Metabolism starts with Low Weight, and Slow Metabolism starts with High Weight.

Clothing keeps body temperature steady. The guide warns that being too hot or too cold harms the character. Rain and sweat make the character wet, and a soaked character can catch a cold. Outdoorsy makes a survivor "Less affected by harsh weather conditions."

Notes

• The Nutritionist trait shows the nutritional values of any food.
• Too many corpses in one area cause sickness. Burying or burning them keeps a base healthy.
• Illiterate characters cannot read skill books or recipe magazines.