Q&A with THE WALKING DEAD UNIVERSE RPG’s Mattias Johnsson Haake & Joe LeFavi

The Walking Dead Universe RPG Kickstarter (with only hours to go!) has been wildly successful and, having spent much time playing the Alien RPG from Free League Publishing, I'm very excited to jump into the world of The Walking Dead with friends soon! In the latest installment of our Q&A series, I caught up with Mattias Johnsson Haake, Free League Publishing Game Designer / Co-Owner and Joe LeFavi, Genuine Entertainment and Brand Manager, who tell us all jumping into the world of The Walking Dead. Whether you're a RPG veteran or have never played an RPG and are just curious, you'll find something to like here:

How did you set out to make The Walking Dead Universe RPG different from past RPGs you've created? Is there a unique gameplay element you're particularly excited and/or proud of?

Mattias: This game was designed by Nils Hintze, who was also our lead designer for the Tales from the Loop and Vaesen RPGs. If you have played those games, you will find the mechanics of The Walking Dead RPG familiar, but there are definitely some unique elements there as well. As a huge TWD fan, Hintze set out with the aim that everything you see happening on screen should be possible to understand and explain in reference to the game rules. This meant that he had to come up with a number of new solutions, some of them inspired by elements from our other games, such as the stress mechanic from the Alien RPG.

Joe: I’m a sucker for our stress mechanics. Offering a new TWDU twist, the stress mechanics are no longer just about you. You must now manage the issues and stress levels of your emotional anchors among the other survivors, too. If other PCs and NPCs can’t keep it together, one reckless step or a raised voice at the wrong moment may have real consequences for everybody. Extending the stakes beyond mere life and death, players must also allow their PCs to breathe, reflect, and naturally react to the hardships of this world. Otherwise, somebody may become “shattered” – emotionally incapable of rationally acting in anyone’s best interests (even your own) – forcing the rest of the group to step up and bring them back from the brink before it’s too late. Yet as it’s inevitable that stress will take its toll, this new group-based drama can inspire some amazing roleplay, as your life (mechanically and thematically) often depends upon maintaining the few relationships not just keeping you alive, but keeping you human.

What can you tell us about the characters that you can play as in this game and their abilities?

Mattias: You play fairly ordinary people (whatever that is?) - people who once had jobs, families, leisure activities, and so on, but whose lives were drastically changed due to the outbreak. Mechanically they are defined by how accomplished they are in terms of four basic Attributes, twelve Skills, and Talents that make them especially equipped to deal with certain types of situations. Adding to this, and possibly even more important than the stats, are the PCs Drive and Issue - the former indicating their reasons to live on, the latter describing what makes them extra vulnerable or frail.

At its core, TWDU RPG is not a game about individual heroes, slaying the monster and looting its den. It is about people much like you and me, caught in a horrific situation that they are ill-equipped to deal with. To survive, you need to find others to rely on, and try to work together, any and all differences aside.

Where is the world of the RPG set? Is there crossover between locations and/or characters from the TV series? In terms of the timeline, when does this take place within The Walking Dead TV series?

Joe: Players are allowed to set their story anywhere and any time on the timeline, may it be moments after the outbreak began or long after the events of the TV series. We may feature some familiar faces and places in Starter Sets and our future adventure modules, which are designed to cross streams with some of the characters, settings, and events that fans know and love. Yet for the most part, the game is engineered as a vehicle for fans to explore the world of The Walking Dead on their own terms, and create their own characters, moments, and memories at the game table.

The Walking Dead TV series has an incredible number of iconic "hero" zombies? What can we expect in terms of living dead threats in this world?

Mattias: As Joe touched upon earlier, walkers are a real and constant threat. As soon as the PCs leave the (relative) safety of their home base, their haven, they are moving through the world of the dead. If they aren’t careful, if they are loud or rush headlong into uncharted locations, this threat will undoubtedly become real - the ever present (though not always seen or heard) walker swarm will notice their presence; it will grow in size, come closer, and soon enough it will detect the PCs and move in for the kill.

The Walking Dead is not only known for its zombies, but its dangerous human threats. What types of human encounters do you have planned?

Mattias: Spot on, humans are in many respects more dangerous than walkers - they are calculating, they carry weapons, and they are often as ruthless as the undead. There are rules and guidelines for creating human factions and individual survivors in the game, including roll tables that you can use to define their characteristics. However, how encounters between the PCs and such groups play out, is very much up to the players and how they interpret various situations. TWDU RPG is not a game where you’ll lightly resort to violence; combat is brutal and deadly. Negotiations and compromises are almost always to prefer, and never forget the option to run and hide.

I understand that there are two game modes: Campaign and Survival. Can you talk about the differences between the two?

Mattias: Sure. They are very different indeed - the campaign mode is comparable to a season of a TV series, while the survival mode is more reminiscent of a movie. When playing a campaign, the main goal is to simply survive; the PC group starts out with a small haven in an unknown area, full of both threats and possibilities. They must explore the area while dealing with challenges from without and within, be it hidden walker swarms, hostile humans, shortage of supplies, personal breakdowns, leadership quarrels, or an infected water source. Adding to this, the players and their characters may have other goals, as individuals or as a collective. Some may want to reboot civilization, others are searching for a cure; someone wants to rise to power, another to start a family. Where the story goes is not predetermined - it is very much decided by what the PCs do, and don’t do.

When playing a survival mode scenario, you are typically offered premade player characters, designed specifically for the scenario at hand. These PCs find themselves in a critical situation that needs to be handled straight away; if they don’t act, something terrible will happen. In this case, the story has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Sure, as this is a roleplaying game, the PCs will always have the freedom to decide how to deal with specific challenges as well as the problem at large. And to complicate things even more, the premade PCs often have different opinions about what a desirable outcome would look like…

While working on the game, I assume you watched quite a few of the episodes over and over again. Do you have a favorite episode of The Walking Dead and/or character?

Joe: Criminy, that’s hard to say. Though it’s an oldie but goldie, Days Gone Bye is probably one of my favorite TV pilots ever. I’m more partial to smaller, more intimate moments, so episodes like The Grove and Still come to mind. Episodes like No Sanctuary and The Cell certainly show what some characters are made of, too. Oh, and I could probably watch and rewatch the Blair/Gina episode from Tales of the Walking Dead as many times as they re-lived it. Parker Posey can do no wrong.

As far as favorite characters, that’s downright impossible. At times, I loved when characters like Rick, Carol, and Daryl grew over the years. That was a huge draw for me. Other times, the dependable bedrocks like Glenn, Abraham, Aaron, Jesus, Ezekiel, Princess, and Eugene all kept me going. And who couldn’t love Jerry? Also, I know I’m not supposed to list any villains, but Negan and Shane both really stuck with me. I loved to hate those bastards, and I hated to empathize with them at times, too. It’s not easy to pull that off, so hats off to AMC. Oh, and Simon. Never met a character I wanted to punch in the face more. For all the right reasons.

Mattias: For me, it was never about single episodes. Not even single seasons, really. Maybe I’m a typical campaign player? Jokes aside, what I find most fulfilling and captivating is the flow of the story, from episode to episode, from season to season - the way the characters and the world around them evolve with what happens. I do have a favorite character though, in Carol. I am sure there is a reason for this, but why analyze it? All I need to know is that in any given situation, I find myself rooting for Carol, even when I don’t fully agree with her. Is it… love?

Aside from The Walking Dead, what are some of your favorite zombie movies that inspired you while creating this?

Joe: When getting into the right headspace for this game, I honestly dug a lot more into post-apocalyptic and extreme survival stories. The BBC TV series Survivors was up there for me. Though I wouldn’t say they were huge inspirations for the TWD RPG, I definitely have a few zombie favorites across film, TV, gaming, and literature. Train to Busan, All of Us are Dead, The Last of Us, Resident Evil, 28 Days Later, I Am Legend, Zombieland, and Shaun of the Dead, just to name a few.

Mattias: I would agree that zombie movies are maybe not the ideal source of inspiration in this case. I very much enjoy said genre (28 Days/Weeks Later being the absolute favorites), but I feel that TWD is something else. Even if action and survival are important themes, I’d say that interpersonal drama and faction play are even more prominent. It is the characters, not the walkers, that make TWD into such a fantastic treat.

To learn more and support The Walking Dead Universe RPG, visit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/the-walking-dead-universe-roleplaying-game