This is a list of game terminology that is new since the printing of the rulebook, that has been altered since the printing of the rulebook, or terms that the staffers and player base felt needed further elaboration or exposure. This is a living document that may be updated further in the future.
Last Edit: 11/14/22
Abilities that Impact Players
AGONY
Countered by Basic Mental Endurance if delivered by an AOE or Sound of Voice call, or by Avoid if delivered by a Strike or Ranged Attack. Agony is an ability that causes intense physical and/or mental pain in the character affected, making it difficult if not impossible to act through the torment. This effect normally lasts 10 seconds if not otherwise specified, and during that time, the character cannot use Skills or items but can move at a slow pace and defend themselves. Agony Interrupts skills being used when it is called.
ATTRACT
Countered by Basic Mental Endurance for a five-minute period. Attract is an ability that lures those creatures or people with a certain keyword towards the user. Those affected by it must move when possible in the direction of the call, although if attacked they can stop to defend themselves – if an assailant withdraws, the effect reasserts itself. While they are not required to attack the source of the effect, most zed and raiders will, and critters will if their natural instinct is to do so. Player characters affected can make their own decisions as to what to do once attracted.
AUGMENT
An Augment is an item that does nothing on its own but can be attached to another item (as specified in the Augment’s description) to either add a new ability or modify the item’s existing effects. To attach an augment to an item, the player must spend two minutes of full engagement roleplay with both the intended item and Augment; if interrupted, the item and augment are not destroyed but the process must be started over.
After successful attachment, have logistics mark the Augment card to indicate which item it’s attached to. The same process will remove an Augment, but destroys it in the process. Unless otherwise indicated, an item can only have one Augment attached. Upon removal – or when the Augment expires – the card is expended and should be destroyed. The effects of Augments do not stack with each other or trigger off each other’s effects unless specifically stated in the Augment’s description.
BAPTIZED
A character that has been inducted into a faith, normally through the use of Basic Faithful Patterns, is considered to be Baptized into the faith. They gain the name of their faith as a Keyword, for the purposes of certain abilities that only affect members of a certain faith.
DOWNSURGE
Countered by Basic Mental Endurance. Downsurge modifiers work as Upsurge (DR: LARP Evolved, page 109) modifiers do, but are always detrimental. They hold a separate ‘slot’ than Upsurge – that is to say, each character can have both one Upsurge and one Downsurge effect active at any given time. A new Downsurge effect called will override the current one if not resisted.
KNOCKBACK (X PACES)
Countered by Balance; can be countered by Avoid if delivered as a Strike or Ranged Attack. The target of a Knockback effect must move back a number of paces (as stated in the call) from the source of the effect. The player should move around other players as necessary to accomplish this task as safely as possible. If the movement would encounter a wall, table, or other large obstacles, the Knockback effect ends.
MURDER
Countered as the accompanied call; Avoid if a Strike or Ranged Attack. Murder is an effect that can be added to a damage call. An example call would be ‘20, Murder’. If the damage attached to a Murder effect is sufficient to put a target into bleedout, it is also considered a killing blow. Effects that would normally trigger on either bleedout or a killing blow will trigger on a Murder effect in this situation.
NAIL
Countered by Avoid unless an Area of Effect or Sound of Voice effect. This ability restricts the struck target to one spot for one minute; they cannot move from that spot until the Nail condition ends, but they can still use skills and defend themselves ordinarily so long as the skills used do not require walking/running (such as Enhanced Movement). This effect also ends if the target enters bleedout. One foot should be planted for the duration, but the player may pivot on that foot. This does not prevent Never Here.
STABILIZED
When a character is at exactly 0 Body. but is not in bleedout, they are considered to be Stabilized. They are incapable of defending themselves, can walk slowly but not run or otherwise react quickly to stimuli, and cannot use any skills until healed to at least 1 Body.
TERROR
Countered by Basic Mental Endurance. Often delivered as an area or Line of Sight effect, those affected by Terror are overcome by an urge to flee from the source of it. For at least 30 seconds (default; some uses may specify a different duration in the call) they must attempt to flee from the presence of the source of Terror, regardless of (IG) safety. If they cannot for some reason escape, they will cower as best as possible. The target may still defend themselves, but fleeing will always be a priority when possible. Effects and items that give immunity to Fear do not give immunity to Terror unless noted otherwise.
UPSURGE (UPDATE FROM THE BOOK)
As a change from the main rules book, Upsurge effects are only beneficial; all detrimental Upsurge effects have been converted into Downsurge calls.
Common Threat Abilities
The abilities, effects, and modifiers in this section are most commonly found on threats, although some rare mechanics may occasionally make these abilities available to others. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but an overview of the most commonly possessed abilities that players may need to be familiar with.
ADRENALINE
While the majority of the walking dead move relatively slowly, some amongst them can initiate a sudden burst of vigor and energy that can enliven a horde. With a call of “Adrenaline – All Undead, Run!” they can allow all undead in hearing range to move at an occasional running pace.
ANGER MUTATION (BASIC, PROFICIENT, AND MASTER)
A unique mutation found in some raiders, this allows them to trigger a sudden burst of adrenaline that courses through their system and allows them to bypass the limits of their bodily condition.
Basic Anger Mutation: This raider can call “Raider Rage” to heal their Body to full and fix all mangled limbs instantly. This ability cannot be used in bleedout, and should be used mid-fight.
Proficient Anger Mutation: This raider can call “Raider Rush” to become immune to all stun, knock-out, and mangle effects for 5 minutes. They respond to such effects with “No Effect, Raider Rush”. This skill does not negate such effects if they are already suffering from them, and cannot be used in bleedout.
Master Anger Mutation: This raider can call “Raider Frenzy” to become immune to all Anomaly effects for 5 minutes. They respond to such effects with “No Effect, Raider Frenzy”. This skill does not negate such effects if they are already suffering from them, and cannot be used in bleedout.
ANOMALY HEAL
Some zombies – and even some other threats in the wasteland – can become revitalized by the use of aberrant abilities in their area. If any anomaly ability is used within earshot, this ability may be activated with a call of “Anomaly Response, Healing”. This restores all lost Body to the source of the call.
CANNIBALISM
Many types of threats possess the Cannibalism ability. This is distinct from the Gorger advantage, and works differently. If a target Lineage is unconscious, subdued, or in bleed out, this character can begin 30 seconds of brutal cannibalistic roleplay. While roleplaying ripping out pieces of meat and consuming the target Lineage, the target must roleplay being in incredible pain. If uninterrupted for the full 30 seconds of the roleplay, the user calls “Cannibalism: reduce bleed out time to 1 minute”. If the target is already under 1 minute left in bleed out, this has no effect. Multiple uses of Cannibalism by one or more zombies will not reduce the count further than one minute, but should be called anyway to alert players to the terrible thing occurring.
DEFEND
A skill only possessed by threats, Defend acts very similarly to Avoid in that it counters a Strike or Ranged Attack. Unlike Avoid, it only works on attacks coming from the front 120 degree arc, meaning that it cannot be used to counter an attack performed from the back or sides of the character. For the purposes of any ability that negates or otherwise changes Avoid, Defend can be treated as Avoid – for instance, if an attack is ‘No Avoid’, it cannot be Defended either.
FOCUSED
The single-minded intent of those threats possessing the Focused ability makes them resistant to things that would give them pause in fulfilling their purpose. When targeted with any Stun effect, they may call “No Effect, Focused” in response.
INFECTIOUS
Consuming the raw flesh of certain raiders can expose one to the dangers of Bad Brain Disease. If a raider listed as Infectious is eaten by a Gorger or otherwise cannibalized in some way, the feasting Lineage gains or advances one stage of Bad Brain Disease. In rare cases, other diseases may be communicated in this way.
INFLICT (DISEASE, STAGE)
Countered by Avoid. The undead, raiders, and critters of the wasteland rarely wash their hands. Some of them also have other ways of spreading their diseases to others. Unless otherwise noted for a threat, this ability is delivered by a Strike and the call of “Inflict Disease Stage X”, and causes the target to develop a specific disease at a specific stage. Many threats will wait until an enemy is in bleedout before targeting them with this ability.
LARGE BRAWLERS
Some undead emerge from the Gravemind with freakishly long claws or arms, and some critters are simply enormous. These “Large Brawlers”’ can be up to standard melee sized instead of the usual brawler length. The undead may block with Large Brawlers as if they had Procficient Unarmed skill.
RANGED REDUCTION (UPDATED FROM THE BOOK)
Possessed by many zombie threats and some exceptionally armored critters, Ranged Reduction reduces the amount of damage taken from firearms, bows, and thrown weapons to the target. Ranged Reduction (Minor) means that the target reduces incoming damage by 5 from a Ranged Attack, minimum 1, while Ranged Reduction (Major) means that the target reduces incoming damage by 10 from a Ranged Attack, minimum 1. Ranged Bane attacks do normal damage to the target, but do not double their damage.
RISE AGAIN
Although some undead have the ability to eventually clamber back to their feet if left twitching on the ground for too long, those with this ability can quicken that process. With a call of ‘All Tenacious Undead, Rise!’, all Tenacious undead that are currently in bleedout will heal to full Body. This call may be used in bleedout, but the undead making the call is not affected by their own call even if they are Tenacious.
SMELL OF THE GRAVE
This call causes undead to ignore the source of the ability so long as said source does not attack any undead while under its influence. The call is “Smell of the Grave: All Undead, Ignore Me” and may be repeated as necessary while the ability is active. Most commonly this ability is possessed by critters that have evolved to live and feed alongside zombies.
SPIKE
The animating force of certain undead is linked closely with those created at the same time. When such an undead is dropped into bleedout, they can call “Spike! All Linked Undead Heal All!” – causing all undead that are linked with them to heal to full Body. Some undead can only use this ability once, while others have unlimited uses – forcing survivors to kill them one at a time.
STRONG LIMBS
Either due to thick hides, strong bones, or a complete lack of bones, some targets are resistant to attempts to mangle their limbs. These threats will have Strong Arms and/or Strong Legs listed as an ability, and can respond to Mangle attempts with ‘No Effect, Strong Arms’ or ‘No Effect, Strong Legs’.
STAMPEDE
Generally found amongst herd critters, the call of “All <critter type> Stampede!” causes all such critters within sound of voice to all charge in a single direction for up to 10 large steps. During these 10 large steps the critters affected by Stampede have up to 10 uses of “Takedown” as a skill during the 10 steps that can be used on those in their way. If struck or affected by any damage or skills during Stampede all animals may call “No Effect: Stampede.” Stampede may not last for more than 10 seconds.
TENACIOUS
Not all undead die so easily. When a Tenacious undead is dropped into bleed out and/or has a Killing Blow performed upon them, they should remain motionless for thirty seconds, then twitch for ten seconds before rising back up at full Body. Use of Basic Combat Tactics (‘Double Tap’) negates this ability. Such undead can use this ability at most three times.
Blueprint Keywords
This is a list of the keywords currently in use on blueprints; all prints will have at least one keyword to define them, most will have two (counting the company name) and a minority will have more.
Keywords are mostly a way to determine what affects what; if an augment can be added to a ‘melee-standard’ or any ‘Candlepin’ item, there’s no question of what it can be added to due to these, and if an ability affects ‘Aberrants’ every threat is clearly marked to determine if it’s affected.
There are a minority of Effect keywords that sometimes have a further meaning, and those are listed below.
Item Type Keywords
Generic, Resource, Armor, Bow, Firearm, Firearm-2H, Knucks, Melee-Small, Melee-Standard, Melee-2H, Melee-Florentine, Exotic, Thrown, Shield, Trap-String, Trap-Pressure, Trap-Container, Gizmo, Vehicle, Augment-Armor, Augment-Bow, Augment-Melee, Augment-Firearm, Augment-Shield, Augment-Gizmo, Augment-Vehicle, Augment-Trap, Augment-Room, Vehicle-Land, Vehicle-Air, Vehicle-Water, Room-Augment, Procedure, Benediction, Startup, Brew-Ingested, Brew-Injected, Brew-Inhaled, Meal, Poison-Applied, Poison-Ingested, Poison-Injected
Company/Organization Keywords
OOPH, AA, Candlepin, Thempire, Slappi, SG, Moulen, Heavycraf, Toothpiq, Steelpaw, Freeiron, Bigol, GL, Murder-Inc, Paradigm, Mountain, OF, Daline, Helscape, GG, Sosweet, Red-Ledger
Effect Keywords
Single-Use, Psionic, Faith, Reliable, Dangerous, Overpower, Online-Only, Wasteland-Only
Single-Use: Items that are expended after one use.
Psionic: Items that count as a psionic effect.
Faith: Items that count as a faith effect.
Reliable: Items that continue to work even when Broken.
Dangerous: The user of this item is not immune to its effects.
Overpower: If an effect used by this item is defended against with a skill, the user may spend 1 Mind to have it repeat with a call of “Overpower”. If defended against a second time, Overpower may not be used again. This keyword ability cannot be used with PFA abilities.
Online-Only: Items that cannot be used except during online events.
Wasteland-Only: These items can only be used within a Wasteland area, and the use of them often counts as a CvC action. Weapons with this keyword can still be used as base weapons outside of the wasteland, but only do base damage for their weapon type.
Character Keywords
All characters – both threats and players – will have at least one keyword as well, to define what affects them. The Threat Keywords aren’t intrinsic to blueprints/devices, but may be referenced in item abilities.
CHARACTER KEYWORD LIST: Undead, Horde, Aberrant, Irradiated, Raider, Critter, Outsider, Psionically-Sensitive, (All Lineage, Strain, and Faith names are also Keywords)