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QUICKSTART
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G NAT EL LI
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 Table of Contents
WELCOME
TO PLAGUE BEARER
THE WORLD OF PLAGUE BEARER ................ 4
HOW DID WE GET HERE?..........................................4
KINGDOM OF THE DEAD..........................................5
SURVIVORS....................................................................5
THE PLAYERS...........................................................6
RULES FOR THE PLAYERS.........................................6
THE GAMEMASTER ..............................................7
RULES FOR THE GAMEMASTER.............................7
SO WHAT DO WE DO? ........................................8
THINGS NEEDED TO PLAY .................................9
DICE..............................................................................9
D6 AND D66..............................................................9
PREGENERATED SURVIVORS............................9
1. ROWENA - EXECUTIONER..................................10
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2. LISA - POACHER......................................................12
3. AHMAD - TRAVELNG POET................................ 14
4. VIVIENNE - NOBLEWOMAN..............................16
5. BROTHER IRATUS - MONK.................................18
6. OLGA - FARMER......................................................20
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THE PREGENERATED
SURVIVOR FOLIOS.......................................22
ACTIONS........................................................ 24
ACTION DICE POOLS..........................................24
BONUS DICE.................................................................24
PENALTY DICE............................................................25
DICE RESULTS........................................................ 25
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QUALITY RATING......................................................25
FORCING SUCCESSES........................................ 26
MORE THAN 12 DICE (AND LESS THAN 1)........27
PERILOUS SCENES.............................................. 27
ROLLING TROUBLE..................................................27
FERVOR GAIN..............................................................28
ACTION DESCRIPTIONS.................................... 28
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ATHLETICS ACTIONS...............................................28
ATTITUDE ACTIONS................................................28
COMBAT ACTIONS....................................................29
MAGIC ACTIONS........................................................29
PERCEPTION ACTIONS............................................29
SURVIVAL ACTIONS..................................................29
COMBAT........................................................ 30
ZOMBICIDE, OR NOT?........................................30
WEAPONS.....................................................................30
COMBAT SEQUENCE.......................................... 31
OPENING VOLLEY...................................................... 31
COMBAT ROUNDS.....................................................32
SURVIVOR PHASE................................................ 32
LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT........................................32
CLOSE COMBAT ATTACK........................................32
ASSIGNING HITS IN CLOSE COMBAT.................33
3 TARGETING PRIORITY ORDER............................33
DISENGAGE..................................................................33
COMBAT MOVES.........................................................34
IMPROVISED MOVES.................................................34
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ZOMBIE PHASE..................................................... 35
ZOMBIE ATTACKS......................................................35
DAMAGE.................................................................. 36
INFLICTING DAMAGE..............................................36
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SUFFERING DAMAGE...............................................36
RECOVERY.....................................................37
RESTING................................................................... 37
THE GAMEMASTER.....................................38
PROLONGED ACTIONS...................................... 38
OPPOSED ACTIONS...................................................38
SEARCHING.................................................................38
TROUBLE.......................................................40
OTHER FORMS OF TROUBLE.........................40
CONDITIONS...........................................................41
SOURCES OF DAMAGE......................................41
FALLING........................................................................41
FIRE.................................................................................41
BLOOD AND WINE 43
THE CLOCK IS TICKING!....................................44
INTRODUCTION....................................................45
AN UNEXPECTED THREAT....................................45
SEARCHING.................................................................45
THE MANOR................................................................46
LOCATIONS............................................................47
BLOODGRAPE HILL..................................................47
BLOODGRAPE MANOR............................................48
EVENTS.................................................................... 59
MALACHOR’S AGENDA............................................59
TIME TRACK........................................................... 59
AFTERMATH..........................................................60
ADVERSARIES AND
OTHER CHARACTERS................................. 60
THE VINE OF LIFE AND DEATH............................60
BROTHER COLUMBANUS....................................... 61
FLESH SIGIL.................................................................. 61
MALACHOR THE NECROMANCER...................... 61
SIR ÉTIENNE................................................................62
APPENDIX......................................................63
SEARCH RESULTS................................................ 63
DRAGON BILE..............................................................64
THE ROD OF EPHIGENIUS......................................64
MAPS........................................................................ 65
2
THE WORLD OF PLAGUE BEARER 4
PREGENERATED SURVIVORS 10
ACTIONS 24
COMBAT 30
RECOVERY 37
THE GAMEMASTER 38

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TROUBLE 40

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 1
3

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Welcome
to Plague Bearer
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4
Welcome to Plague Bearer
“L
ife has never been easy in the Old Kingdom.
Every couple of years some blight killed our
crops, and we starved. When things went well,
it was the turn of the nobles to take their share
for themselves and the King, and we starved. So,
when the Necromancers appeared, summoning un-
dead hordes from cursed cemeteries, we weren’t real-
ly surprised.
“Hell is coming to Earth!”, shout the prophets of
Doom. Wrong. Hell has always been here.
e darkness… oh, wait. They never did.
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If you’re reading this, you probably know about
the Zombicide: Black Plague series of board
games published by CMON. Plague Bearer is a
roleplaying game set in the same world depicted
in those games, a medieval setting in the grip of
a Zombie apocalypse.
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But this is not a game about hiding from the dead —
in Plague Bearer, you play a tough, sword-wielding,
spell-casting, Zombie-killing bastard, someone
who, instead of succumbing to the madness that
engulfed the realm, decided to fully embrace it.
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You might not be the most pious friar or the loyal
farmer anymore. Battling animated cadavers takes
its toll on one’s mind. But you’re still alive and plan
on staying that way. You’re a Survivor.
This booklet is a quickstart for the Plague Bearer
roleplaying game. These are not the complete rules,
but instead a primer that allows you and your
friends to jump directly into the action of an apoc-
alyptic world where Necromancers rule the land
and survivors fight the dead to stay alive!
THE WORLD
OF PLAGUE BEARER
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The world you knew ended yesterday. Let’s be hon-
est, as grim as it was, life in those days was bliss
compared to today. Now, the world is a nightmare
landscape of shuffling feet and grasping hands,
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slack-jawed mouths, and bloodshot eyes.
It’s an empty, deserted realm where the busy sounds
of village life and of farmers in the fields have been
replaced by the moaning dead and the screaming of
the few ones who still fight to stay alive.
Here, no King or noble can protect you from the
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Who are the Necromancers? Renegade wizards?
Priests of some unholy cult? Invaders from far
away lands where legends say Darkness once
ruled? So far, no one can say what hell vomited
these ravening plague bearers. The only thing we
know for sure is that they appeared leading le-
gions of revenants, and that they unleashed them
on our communities, destroying everything on
their path. People died by the hundreds, every
victim rising again to swell the numbers of this
horrific force.
So, the question isn’t really how you got here,
but rather, how you can stop them.
You certainly don’t stand a chance if you continue
arguing on the whys while the dead shamble all
over the place. Walkers, runners, and crawlers fill
the village streets. The fields have more animated
corpses than wheat!
And while the majority of them still resemble what
they were before, some have changed so much that
you could not believe they were ever human.

Yes, I’m talking about abominations, the most dan-
gerous servants in the Necromancer’s arsenal.
Are you familiar with tabletop roleplaying
games? I bet you are. If not, read this section
carefully, especially the part about Players
and the Gamemaster (GM for short).
KINGDOM OF THE DEAD
When it happened, you were plowing the fields,
milking cows, or on the road to sell your wares at
the local market. It was an ordinary day. But now,
you’re hiding in a cellar, an abandoned farm, or the
local smithy with a few others.
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The village, the church, the guard towers, the fields,
they’re all still there for the most part. A few places
went up in flames in the first days. But now, what
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you see outside your little refuge is not the place
you once knew. Now, all that’s left in your eyes are
places where you can hope to find water, food, and
any weapons you can find.
And the dead. The dead are everywhere.
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There must be others like you out there. You were
not the strongest person in the village, but you
made it. So, others must have too, and you can find
them. There must be still warriors around, healers,
artisans, and maybe even a magician or two. You
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might get along well and build a larger community.
Maybe start over.
Maybe.
If you listen to the rumors, the entire Old Kingdom
has been overrun by the dead, but you can’t be
sure. News travels slowly, especially since most
messengers have been killed and their horses eaten.
Some say that the King is still alive in the capital,
Kingsburg, and is preparing to leave his castle in
arms and come to the rescue of his beloved subjects.
5
But they also say the King rides on a griffin when
he goes to battle, and you have never seen a griffin
to Plague Bearer
in your life…
Welcome
SURVIVORS
So, the bottom line is that you are on your own.
You are Survivors, probably just a handful of in-
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dividuals out of hundreds who died in gruesome
ways. You should better focus on what’s happen-
ing in your area, the Duchy of Wulfsburg — your
home, the place where you’ve lived all your life.
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Blood and Wine
But here is some good news: you survived because
you possess abilities that allowed you to defeat ev-
erything this grim, undead world put before you.
At least, so far. You refused to just lay down and die,
or let desperation crush you. You embraced des-
peration instead, and used it as a weapon to slash,
smash, burn, and otherwise exterminate hordes of
revenants with fire, blade, or magic.
Armed to the teeth with everything you can carry or
wield, you roam the land, slipping into undead-in-
fested villages and castles, hiding behind rubble,
and scavenging for anything that might keep you
alive just a little bit longer. One day at a time.
Zombies?
What do we call the walking dead?
Animated cadavers, the infected, walk-
ers, revenants… all these are synonyms for
Zombies that you may consider more appro-
priate to a medieval setting like that of the
Old Kingdom. Otherwise, just call them
Zombies. We’ll do that once in a while.
6
THE PLAYERS
In a game of Plague Bearer, players take the role of
individual Survivors. They decide what their char-
acters think and feel, and most especially, what they
choose to do about the circumstances they live in.
It is each player’s responsibility to interpret their
chosen Survivor as if they themselves were plunged
into a world infested by the undead and equipped
to confront the threat.
But if it wasn’t clear already, the stories told in
Plague Bearer are not dreary tales about people
slowly driven to madness by living in a world over-
run by Zombies. The Survivors in this game are
true die-hards, veterans of the Apocalypse who are
ready to do whatever it takes to rise above the mis-
ery and death.
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RULES FOR THE PLAYERS
◆ -Rule #1: Visualize what the Gamemaster says
In a roleplaying game, the GM serves as your
eyes and ears, but you must engage your brain
to envision all those descriptions into a scene
you can interact with. If you don’t get it, or
if you think something important is missing
from a scene, ask questions of the GM or make
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suggestions to fill in the blanks!
◆ Always
Rule #2: Describe your Survivor’s Actions -
tell the GM and the other players what
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your Survivor is doing, or, to phrase it better,
what you are doing. Be specific when you de-
scribe what you’re doing and how you do it,
without making unnecessary references to the
rules of the game.
◆ Rule #3: Act as a group as much as possible -
Cooperative play will enhance your chances of
you, the other players, and the GM. Everyone
needs a share of the spotlight.
◆ Rule #4: Find Your Own Survivor’s
Voice – Plague Bearer is all about
the Survivors, their looks, and their
quirks. Visualize your own Survivor
and give them distinctive traits for
the other players and the GM to re-
member. If you think you’re overdo-
ing it, keep only to the essentials and
avoid monologues.
◆ Rule #5: Keep it Crazy, Keep it
Fun - Wallow in the spirit of Plague
Bearer! Death and decay are bleak,
but Survivors have the right attitude
and weapons aplenty to survive and
thrive. So, it’s time to Team Up and
Gear Up!
These quickstart rules allow you to jump
headfirst into the world of Plague Bearer
in a matter of minutes. Just grab a ready-
to-play Survivor and start playing!
 7

THE GAMEMASTER ◆ Rule #5: Keep it Crazy, Keep it Fun – Yeah,

that’s what we said to the players, too. But in

to Plague Bearer
One player in every group is the exception, as one your case, it’s even more important. Whenever
person won’t play a single individual, but will in- you can, infuse your scenes with the wicked

stead assume the role of the Gamemaster. This is
the person in charge of managing the Old Kingdom
itself, and describing it to the other players.
Welcome
humor of Zombicide. Hordes of Walkers risk
becoming boring unless you add the occasion-
al undead cow mooing in the yard, the dead
hangman shambling around dragging the gal-

If you’re going to be the GM, you will play as a
referee and a storyteller. You’ll challenge the oth-
er players with the many dangers of the world of
Plague Bearer, generously giving them a moment of
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lows, or even the local tax collector with a bag
of body parts instead of coins.
While it may seem daunting at first, the task of the

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respite once in a while. Gamemaster is an extremely satisfying experience.

Blood and Wine

This Quickstart makes it easy to set up a gaming
session with little to no preparation.
RULES FOR
THE GAMEMASTER
◆ Rule #1: You are the Eyes and Ears of the
Survivors – Your main goal is to feed the play-
ers’ imaginations to bring the Old Kingdom

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to (un)life. Everything that happens in the
world is up to you and should be communi-
cated to the players as vividly as possible.
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◆ Rule #2: You are not the Enemy – While
you will often confront the players with des-
perate odds, your role is to create interesting
situations for them to get into trouble, not to
punish them. Use the entire arsenal of Plague
Bearer to evoke the right mood and suspense,
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not to butcher them.

◆ Rule #3: Know your players – Plague

Bearer is all about telling the story
of the Survivors. The better you
know your players’ expectations
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and goals, the easier it will be

for you to add more chapters to
their story.

◆ Rule #4: Plague Bearer is a

collaborative effort – The game
is not your sole responsibility!
Never forget that you are here to
have fun as much as the other players.
8
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SO WHAT DO WE DO?
The motto of Zombicide the board game is team up,
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gear up, level up, take’em down! This simple man-
tra can be translated in medieval terms to summa-
rize what you will do playing Plague Bearer.
Thou shalt
fight alongside your comrades
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In a world in the grip of the dead, the biggest chance
the living have is staying together. When your Fire
Bolt is burning hordes of dead in front of you, you
need someone to tell you that a Necromancer is
creeping up to dig its cursed dagger into your back!
Find and save others. One of the main reasons to
go on a quest and risk joining the undead horde is
to find other Survivors. If you want to build a new
community, you need its foundation blocks: people.
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Thou shalt
righteously arm yourself
Every task needs the right tools, and fighting is no
exception. Forget about knightly weapons or the
code of chivalry, and never carry just one weapon!
Always look to get more loot. Axes and swords lose
their edge, armor breaks and shields splinter, more
powerful opponents need more powerful weapons,
spells need components, and flasks of Dragon Bile
are getting rarer every day. And you yourselves need
to earn your daily bread.
Thou shalt
hone thy skills
Train constantly and learn from the best. A
well-prepared brigand with a dagger has a better
chance of survival than a well-equipped squire.
 9

The Law of Nature. As the elves say, in the forest,

the wolf preys on the deer. If you want to stop the

to Plague Bearer
Necromancers and their minions, you must cease
being the deer and become the wolf! Custom Dice?

Welcome
If you would like to have more dice at the
Thou shalt table, you can use any number of your own
not suffer a necromancer to live regular 6-sided dice. Just be sure to have 12
dice, and remember that a 6 corresponds to

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At the end of the day, one thing matters the most: a Torch and a 1 is a Zombie Head!
destroy all the Zombies you encounter and kill their
Necromancer masters! Their legions are growing in
number every day.

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Blood and Wine
Get your daily Zombicide! Plan and execute good
strategies, reducing your chance of suffering any ca-
sualties. For every one of you that falls, another one
of them rises.

THINGS NEEDED
TO PLAY e
To play Plague Bearer you need a handful of phys-
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ical components. These include one Survivor Folio
for each player in the game (see the next section),
and a set of six-sided dice.. Pregenerated
Survivors
DICE
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Hurry, everyone! We have to fix this drawbridge

To resolve most Actions undertaken by the
Survivors, players require a set of 12 six-sided dice.
If available, they can use custom dice, featuring
standard pips on four sides, and two special icons,
a Torch and a Zombie Head.
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before the walkers break through the door, or
we’re all dead!
Survivors in the game are brought to life using
numerical ratings and descriptive terms defining

each character based on their physical, mental, and

D6 AND D66
Sometimes, especially with tables, you may be asked
to roll 1 6-sided die (D6), or 2 6-sided dice together
(D66). Rolling a D66 means rolling 2D6 separately,
where one die indicates the tens digits and the sec-
ond the ones digit. This yields 36 different results.
personality traits, and on the extent of their knowl-
edge and capabilities. All these elements are sum-
marized on a Survivor Folio.
The next pages present the Survivor Folios for 6
ready-to-play Plague Bearer Survivors, all you need
to play the introductory Quest.
10

1. Rowena - Executioner
“I used to lop off heads for business,
and I expected the clients to stay
dead. Now, I have to kill everyone

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a second time. I wonder if the
Duke is paying double...”

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Rowena was an executioner, the big,
masked goon who beheaded, hanged,
or otherwise ended the criminals con-

e demned to death. She didn’t particularly

enjoy her job, but she did it conscientious-
ly and without any unnecessary pain for
her “clients”. The problem is that a dis-
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turbing number of customers are coming
back with blood on their (empty) minds.
Fortunately, the axe that chopped off liv-
ing heads works just fine on dead heads.
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Starting Skills:
1. Tough — You gain a boost of +2 Hit
Points (both current and maximum).

2.
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Is That All You’ve Got — Use this

Skill when you are about to lose Hit
Points. Remove 1 or more items in
your Inventory to negate the loss of
an equal number of Hit Points.

3. Reaper — Each time you inflict 1 or

more hits with an Attack, you score
an additional hit.

4. Giant Strength — You gain a +1

Injury bonus with all Melee weapons.
 Name Rowena

Occupation Executioner

Hit Points
7
Looks Big, scarred and 5+2

Armor
tough

Level/xp -1

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Strain
-2

-3

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Skills Fervor
Muscle Brains Guts
3 1 2 Tough

Athletics 3 Stunt Sneak Endure +1 Is That All You’ve Got

Attitude 2

Combat 3
Convince

Fight
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Lore

Shoot
Hearten

Defend
Reaper
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Magic 1 Cast Sense Ward

Giant Strength
Perception 2 Spot Rumors Scout
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Survival 2 Scavenge Craft Thievery

Conditions
Gear
Sa

Hand 1 sack 1
Weapon Great Axe
Hand 2 sack 2

body 1 sack 3
Melee 0 4 5+ 2 2 Two-Handed

body 2 sack 4
Weapon Dagger
body 3 sack 5

body 4 sack 6
Melee 0 1 4+ 1 1 -