So What's The Zombie Like, Anyway? (PFRPG) PDF
This installment of the "So what's..."-series sis 15 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages of editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page advice on how to read statblocks, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 7 pages of content, so let's check this out!
The very first table deals with the appearance of zombies and provides us with 100 peculiarities to bring unique identity to your shambling hordes of flesh-eating dead: From rotting jaw-lines to nooses, bloody nubs for fingers, flayed exposed skin, glowing runes etc., the characteristics are cool, my favorite being a semi-ivy overgrown one that might be mistaken for yellow musk zombies. Of course, most zombies are not naked and there are 100 different things they may be wearing/carrying - where applicable, with GP-values for their items: From black helmets, jars of alcohol with eyeballs floating inside, wolf-fang amulets up to grisly trophies like gnawed on human bones to warm mittens, the second table is just as detailed and neat.
After that, we get simple zombie templates: Frozen Zombies may be nice, but if you're like me and a fan of the Lynch-like cult-game Deadly Premonition, it is the Grinning Zombie with its insane rictus grin and its bite that will have you cackle with glee. (Also, of course, if you have a Joker-style villain and want to add insult to his poison-gases injury...) There also is a template for zombie pets and screaming zombies that emit a deafening, damaging scream, much like Silent hill Downpour's Shriekers. Again: Neat! And then there are the two simple templates that go beyond and are more awesome: The first being the zombie limb swarm and the second being something I would have wanted to see for a long time now: The Legless zombie template, which is plain awesome: If you're like me and a sadistic S-o-b-DM, give your zombies a one-time regeneration that fills their HP up to max when downed first by the players and add the legless zombie template to the respective undead - unless they're blasted by e.g. a fireball, in which case the former swarm might be the better.
Finally, a total of 20 hooks are included that may all lead into a zombie-themed adventure or at least encounter.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to RSP's 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked and in two versions, one optimized for screen use and one to be printed out.
Hell yeah! This pdf is plain awesome, oozing iconicity, cool imagery and not only providing ample details to flesh out undead, but providing simply stellar, awesome templates that I'm honestly surprised no one has done before. Let me spell it out for you: Either the tables or templates alone are worth every cent of this pdf and combined they make for a deal you can't and shouldn't say no to - especially with all crunchy statblock needs soon to be covered as well by Raging Swan's "100% Crunch: Zombies"! I look forward to seeing synergy effects between both and hope the upcoming crunch-book will be up to this offering's excellent quality. Author Greg Marks has created an excellent supplement that practically forces me to rate this the full 5 stars + endzeitgeist seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist out.