Tommy's Take on War of the Dead: Chapter Two Week Seven

The second half of Chapter 2 of War of the Dead officially began today, after what has been a very strong start thus far.

Last week, the PCs began to discover that they were probably way off base on a number of things regarding the situation brewing at Sanctuary and, like most weeks, Week 6 left off with a cliffhanger featuring the impending arrival of a new foe...



Week 7 begins with the PCs and their saviors under attack a new adversary, the hulking Ragers. Not just pure "rage zombies" like 28 Days Later, Ragers are all giant, muscular man-beasts and this should be a great set piece combat that is built as part chase/part combat, with the Ragers smashing into cars and hurling debris. With a little prep woork, this can be a very memorable encounter, or at least it should be.

Once at the Unimed camp, the PCs get to face testing, as Unimed is becoming aware that there are people who are immune to the infection, and they would obviously like to know more. A sidebar here also hints what is coming later in the game, and how this ties directly into that.

The players have the opportunity to pick Commander Morrison's brain to get a lot of backstory here. They also get to reunite with anyone they had been separated from, including the very plot important Samantha.

There have been various shoutouts throughout this, but the UniMed "settlement coordinator" is named Amanda Waller, which is liable to make any DC comics fans nervous...(Waller is the only government official brave enough to get in Batman's face, and the director of the Suicide Squad). If it wasn't intentional, it's going to be distracting for comic fans!

Not surprisingly, there is no rest for PCs, and they are soon forced into a full on conflict with Ragers attacking Sanctuary, while also being given just enough reason to get nervous with UniMed again.

The Ragers have a targeted goal in mind, and the children are once more at the focus of things. This is the first time in a long time the PCs really get a chance to be truly badass, as they get kevlar, automatic rifles and night vision goggles, giving them every opportunity to inflict damage when they run into trouble, which they do quickly.

The action ends on another headscratching cliffhanger, as the Living Dead and the Ragers have now seemingly set a trap for the PCs and their group...

This Week also ends with a one page appendix on expanding Sanctuary, providing several residents for the PCs to interact with, as well as tips and guidelines on making supply runs.

Overall, it's another great leg - probably a slight step down from last week's, which I REALLY enjoyed - in this amazing survival horror romp, with the PCs stuck among the lesser of the evils, allied with UniMed if they're going to stand a chance at all.

I should also note that the author has also commendably drawn links to the free adventures and supplements that Daring has released for War of the Dead, for those who have downloaded and used EVERYTHING, showing that none of it has been "throw-away".