The Walking Dead Universe RPG Starter Set + PDF

“The game is designed for you to be able to play at any place in the [The Walking Dead’s] timeline,” said Free League game director Mattias Johnsson, “and basically anywhere in the world.”

Image: Free League Publishing

Using the rules included in the core rulebook, players will begin their adventure by fleshing out the corner of the world where they intend to play. A lengthy “session zero” will touch on safety and consent before diving into world-building and character creation.

“What has fascinated me about this game is that every group I’ve seen play has done almost an entirely different thing,” producer Joe LeFavi said. “We give them archetypes [for] not who you are today, but who you were when this all started. You know, Glenn was just a pizza delivery guy. They were homemakers and farmers and petty criminals, but they became these great people over time.”

A big part of what players will do as part of session-zero planning will be creating their initial haven, a base of operations where they’ll spend most of their down time. But groups don’t necessarily need to be tied to one geographic location — far from it, in fact.

Image: Free League Publishing

“[Early playtesters] have been able to kind of pick their own path,” LeFavi continued. “If they want to focus on building a micro-society, they can do that. If they want to focus on taming the unknown and going into the uncharteds and seeing what is around every corner, they can do that. And if they just want to have one session where everyone is just co-op, trying to stay alive as a horde tries to overwhelm their stronghold, they can do that too.”

Image: Free League Publishing

Image: Free League Publishing

Free League will be drawing on its years of experience making TTRPGs, several of which align closely with the themes, world-building, and combat mechanics native to the world of The Walking Dead. Base-building and ranged combat have been heavily influenced by Mutant: Year Zero, while the humanity system from Blade Runner (which LeFavi wrote) has served as the inspiration for morale mechanics in The Walking Dead.

“There’s this ‘threat level’ that is basically the stress mechanics for the world itself,” LeFavi said. “There’s this incredible [emphasis on the] stakes where, with Alien and Blade Runner, you may let the stakes rise, and you may let the stress get to you, and it will test what it brings out in you for better or worse. But the more you get stressed out, the more The Walking Dead kind of feels it and reacts.”