MINI-ADVENTURE MODULE 2: ESCAPE FROM TORONTO

INTRODUCTION

 The players (having come here from Dorset?) Have been unable to get and real response out of city hall, the federal government, or all but their closest colleagues. Everyone else is either busy, uninterested, or absent. Stores are closing early, and everyone is out to stock up on supplies. The players desperately need supplies, but how long will they fight the lineups and traffic jams before they try to flee into the countryside. Just before the players leave, chaos breaks out as the police enforce martial law and close the city. Gunshots and screams are heard everywhere as gangs take over the streets. Should the players escape on foot, or wait until the crowds subside and they can make a quick dash past the barricades.

RANDOM ENCOUNTER CHARTS

Table 1: roll 1d6 once per 1km traveled within the city, or once per hour of travel time. Roll once per day to determine nearby events for characters who rest in a building.    
Die Roll Residential Industrial Park Downtown
0-1 Zombie Mob Zombie Zombie Mob
2 Zombies Item Zombies
3 Criminal gang Criminal gang Criminal gang
4 Scattered Zombies nothing Item+Zombies
5 Item Item Stronghold
6 Aggrivated Police Scattered Zombies Aggrivated police
7 Police Police Looting mob
8 Refugee Mob Police Police

Modifiers: Day 1-10 +2  Day 11-50:+1  Day 51-100: 0  Day 101+: -1

Encounter descriptions:

Zombie Mob:  This only occurs in heavily built up areas around 51+ days after the initial chaos. Usually little or no organized effort is made to break up the zombie hoards, so masses of zombies accumulate in residential or city cores. The total number of zombies in the central region of a mob is 100-1000 (1d10x100), and around 10-100 zombies in the periphery. 1n10 of these mobs will be indoors at the time the players pass by, and will begin to emerge 1-10 combat turns after the players enter the periphery (around 100m from the center). This could spell disaster as the players desperately fight their way out, with zombies chasing them. Also good for morale lowering as the GM describes thousands of zombies spilling out of doorways, flooding the streets. Roll Ezy:Obs to spot a mob in the open, Dif:Obs if they are indoors.

Zombies:

 Zombies are terrorizing this area. If it is still day1-50, then d10-3 refugees are fleeing or hiding as 2d10 zombies lurk here. 1n10 such encounters will include a berserk zombie (Avg:Obs to spot), and 1n20 will include a sneaky zombie (Dif:Obs- contested with zombies stealth roll to spot). Zombies are in two’s and three’s, and are fairly easy to spot, although a few might go unnoticed by unwary PC’s (Dif:Obs Marginal Failure results in a zombie appearing 10m away, Critical failure results in the zombie being 1 meter away, around the next corner, etc, any success spots all zombies at a healthy distance). Communicating with the terrorized individuals might get them to be helpful (Dif: Persuasion).

Scattered zombies:

 As above, but only 1d6 zombies are in the immediate area, and none are grouped.  

Criminal Gang:

 Again, if early enough, there are d10-2 people being terrorized, tortured, raped, etc by a gang of 2-36 (d6xd6) criminal civilians or ex-military. 1n10 of such encounters will be of battles between rival gangs. 1n20 will be police (day1-50) or army units (day51+) engaging a gang. Gangs of Toronto will be armed as follows, roll 1d6 1/Clubs, steel pipe (Novice Civilians) 2/Clubs, Knives (Novice Civilians) 3/Cheap pistols, BA rifles (Novice/Experienced Civilians) 4/Good pistols, SA rifles (Novice/ Experienced Civilians) 5/Good pistols, Quazi-military rifles, carbines, some explosives? (Experienced Civilians) 6/ Military issue (M-16/Uzi), grenades, LMG (Experienced/ Veteran Ex-military)

 All gangs will be using 3/4 ton trucks, motorcycles, cars, vans. Some military and Quazi- military groups will have military transports (Jeeps, Hummers, Trucks), and 1n20 will have APC’s (although there aren’t many in T.O.).

Looters:

 These appear as looting mobs early on (day1-50) and scattered looters later (day51+). Mobs consist of 10-100 people breaking storefronts, up to 1000 overrunning malls. Scattered looters are more disbursed, and have 1/10th the number of a mob. Looters differ from criminals as they are not organized, are poorly armed and will in general not pick a fight unless a PC tries to move into their “looting territory” or tries to from their pile of goods. There are also d10-3 innocent people, possibly the storeowners, local residents. These are victims are being terrorized, as looters will stoop to attacking, raping, even murdering whoever gets between them and their goods. Looters will be attacked by police eventually, a 10% chance per hour of police showing up and using tear gas (50%) or bullets (50%) to disburse the mob.

Item:

 In addition to d10-3 people milling about (day1-50), there is an unattended item, and perhaps a dead owner nearby. Roll 1d6 to determine the type:

1/ running car 2/ dropped weapon 1-3:club 4-5:knife 6-7:Cheap pistol 8:BA rifle 9: Good pistol    10: military/police issue weapon (M16, Shotgun, etc) 3/ Loot 1-3:Money, 4 Jewelry, 5 TV/Stereo/VCR, 6:Food 4/ Broken storefront, partially looted, or open building door 5/ Lost Pet or Wandering Child (roll Ezy:Persuasion for players making communication, may become a burden for overly caring PC’s) 6/ Battlesite- roll three times re-rolling additional 6's

Police

 These will be local police day 1-40, and an army patrol day 41+. Early encounters will be with 2-4 officers in 1-3 cars or motorcycles. They will carry good pistols, a shotgun or rifle plus tear gas launchers and grenades. Normal police will use gas on living humans, and may try to disarm and arrest anyone carrying weapons or looting (40% chance). They will normally follow the rules of police conduct, and will only return fire if fired upon. Later patrols may include EST or SWAT teams of 3d6 officers with body armor, M16 rifles and shotguns. They will be given instructions to clear certain building of zombies, but will arrest or disburse looters and mobs.

 Aggravated police have lost much of their former standoffishness, and will open fire 40% of the time on anyone looting or carrying weapons without any warning. They will all wear body armor, and use shotguns, rifles and pistols freely. Army patrols are squadron sized, and include 5 riflemen, two of which carry m203 grenade launchers, a rocket launcher (SMAW or Carl Gustav), a SAW, and a light machinegunner (M60). The point man may have a submachinegun, and they will have a radio, pistols, grenades, Armburst rockets, rifle grenades, and spare ammo. They can call in air support (10% chance, shows up in 10-100 turns), Artillery (5%), or additional troops (20%). Not to be trifled with for sure, and watch out for the aggravated ones. Units like these ones were quite effective at engaging criminal mobs and restoring order. Alas there were far too few of them. They will tend to hold up in a building and wait for support if seriously challenged.

Stronghold

 These are the initial nuclei of militia, or ethnic groups (cults haven’t formed yet). They consist of 51-150 (50+d100) armed people (roll as criminal gang) in a building or building complex. They have barricaded the entrances, and stored a lot of supplies (only enough for 20-50 days). These are ethnic (80%) or mixed (20%) militias who do not really respond to the government. Some (1n20) will be engaged by police or army (d10 units), and may welcome some assistance by players. Others might warn players off, or welcome them in as For:Persuasion roll dictates, and depending on what the players have in mind. As time goes on, and strongholds begin to starve (day 51+), they will be looking for a way out, and may need transport, reconnaissance information, and additional help. 1n20 ethnic groups will be violently racial and attack or betray members of their target races.