Welcome to Cyclopaedia 31: Zombies. Cyclopaedia is a monthly article on the InnRoads Ministries website. I can still remember the first time I watched Night of the Living Dead, and the fear this black and white horror film induced. Hordes of slow-moving animated corpses pounding on the doors and windows of the house with nowhere to run was spooky for a kid. Now, as I read about and watch movies with post-apocalyptic scenarios of a zombie apocalypse, I still get chills. Walking dead are creepy and make our skin crawl. Even when a movie tries to be humorous or emotional, we still feel revulsion at the idea of an animated corpse. So board up the windows and grab the nearest weapon, it is time to fend off waves of undead!
If you have questions about this article or topics you would like me to consider researching for future Cyclopaedia articles, please leave a comment below.
Overview
Zombies, Undead, or other similar names all conjure up images of shambling animated corpses out to kill their living counterparts. Whether we are discussing post-apocalyptic zombie outbreaks or a single animated monster out for revenge, we all can visualize the horror to come.
The legend of zombies comes originally from Haitian folklore, often associated closely with voodoo and magic. Today, zombies find their origins via scientific accidents, disease outbreaks, alien pathogens, mental disorders, biological warfare, and more. Zombies in modern literature and cinema are heavily influenced by George A. Romero’s seminal film Night of the Living Dead, which made zombies a popular villain that comes in hordes.
Video and Tabletop Games have appropriated zombies as popular villains because they can be justified within the story to come in waves and gamers feel little to no remorse in destroying the soulless monsters in droves. Some recent movies and novels that have given rise to zombies with souls, personality, and even remnants of their humanity have begun to alter the view of zombies and how to defeat them.
Zombie stories often reflect our own fears of the future, they tug at our trepidation that science might go wrong, and they draw upon our love of underdog survival stories. Can our small band of heroes stay alive until help arrives or they can find a cure to his unnatural menace?
A Zombie By Any Other Name
Zombies have various names in myths, legends, and cinema. Some of the most common include:.
- Ghoul
- Infected
- Juju Zombie
- Living Dead
- Restless Dead
- Revenant
- Risen
- Undead
Following are sources of information pertaining to Zombies to assist prospective game masters, game designers, writers, and storytellers in knowing where to start their research.
ARTICLES
The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie
By Davis, Wade
Source: Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 9: 85-104.
Clinical findings in three cases of zombification
By Littlewood, Roland
Source: The Lancet. 350 (9084): 1094–1096
CDC Zombie Apocalypse Outreach Campaign
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preparedness_101:_Zombie_Apocalypse
BOOKS
Adrian’s Undead Diary: Dark Recollections
By Philbrook, Chris
Aftertime
By Littlefield, Sophie
The Art of Eating through the Zombie Apocalypse: A Cookbook and Culinary Survival Guide
By Wilson, Lauren and Bauthus, Kristian
As the World Dies: The First Days
By Frater, Rhiannon
The Becoming
By Meigs, Jessica
Day by Day Armageddon
By Bourne, J.L.
Feed
By Grant, Mira
Frankenstein/The Modern Prometheus
By Shelley, Mary
I Am Legend
By Matheson, Richard
Love & the Zombie Apocalypse
By Luna, Chelsea
The Magic Island
By Seabrook, W. B.
Nature’s Undead: Snapping Rattlesnakes, Frozen Frogs, and Other Animals That Seem to Rise from the Grave (Real-Life Zombies)
By Klepeis, Alicia Z.
Only Dead on the Inside: A Parent’s Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
By Breakwell, James
Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie
By Davis, Wade
Patient Zero
By Maberry, Jonathan
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
By Grahme-Smith, Seth
The Reapers Are the Angels
By Bell, Alen
The Remaining
By Molles, D.J.
The Rising
By Keene, Brian
The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist’s Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombis, and Magic
By Davis, Wade
Slow Burn: Zero Day
By Adair, Bobby
Theories of International Politics and Zombies
By Drezner, Daniel
This Is the Way the World Ends: an Oral History of the Zombie War
By Taylor, Keith
The Undead: Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating-Heart Cadavers–How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between Life and Death
By Teresi, Dick
Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror and The Zombie Complex
By Cussans, John
Warm Bodies
By Marion, Isaac
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
By Brooks, Max
The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead
By Ma, Roger
Zombie, Ohio
By Kenemore, Scott
Zombies: A Cultural History
By Luckhurst, Roger
The Zombie Survival Guide
By Brooks, Max
Zombies: An Anthropological Investigation of the Living Dead
By Charlier, Philippe and Gray, Richard
The Zombie Shooting Guide: Survival Training for the Worst-Case Scenario
By Greenman, Mark
Zombies: The Truth Behind History’s Terrifying Flesh-Eaters (Monster Handbooks)
By Goldsworthy, Steve
Zombie Survival Transport Manual (Haynes Manuals)
By Page, Sean T.
Zombie Theory: A Reader
By Lauro, Sarah Juliet
GAMES
All Flesh Must Be Eaten – RPG
All Things Zombie: Final Fadeout – Tabletop Game
Axis & Allies and Zombies – Tabletop Game
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare – Zombies in Spaceland – Video Game
Call of Duty: World at War – Video Game
City of Horror – Tabletop Game
DayZ – Video Game
The Dead: A Prayer for the Living – RPG
Dead Island – Video Game
Dead Panic – Tabletop Game
Dead Rising – Video Game
Dead of Winter – Tabletop Game
End of the World: Zombie Apocalypse – RPG
GURPS Zombies – RPG
GURPS Zombietown USA – RPG
Last Night on Earth – Tabletop Game
Left 4 Dead – Video Game
Mall of Horror – Tabletop Game
Outbreak: Undead – RPG
Plants Vs. Zombies – Video Game
Resident Evil – Video Game
Resident Evil Deck Building Game – Tabletop Game
The Shotgun Diaries – RPG
State of Decay – Video Game
Typing of the Dead – Video Game
The Walking Dead – Video Game
Zombicide – Tabletop Game
Zombies – Tabletop Game
Zombies Ate My Neighbors – Video Game
Zombie Fluxx – Tabletop Game
Zombies, Run – Mobile Game
Zpocalypse – Tabletop Game
CINEMA
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
The Battery
Cemetery Man
City of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Dead Alive
The Evil Dead
Fear the Walking Dead – TV
Fido
The Girl with All the Gifts
Hell of the Living Dead
I Am Legend
I Walked With A Zombie
iZombie – TV
Juan of the Dead
The Last Man on Earth
Maggie
Mulberry Street
Night of the Comet
Night of the Creeps
Night of the Living Dead
The Omega Man
The Plague of the Zombies
Planet Terror
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Re-Animator
REC
Resident Evil
Return of the Living Dead
Scooby-Doo! On Zombie Island
Shaun of the Dead
Shock Waves
Train to Busan
The Walking Dead – TV
Warm Bodies
White Zombie
World War Z
Zombie Apocalypse
Zombi 2
Zombie
Zombieland
LOCATIONS
Walker Stalker Con
http://walkerstalkercon.com/
Walker Stalker Cruise
http://www.walkerstalkercruise.com/
Zombie Con
http://www.zombiecon.com/
Zombie Con X
http://zombieconx.com/
Zombie Run
http://www.mudrunguide.com/directory/list-zombie-mud-runs-obstacle-races/
PEOPLE
Wade Davis
Zora Neale Hurston
Peter Jackson
Richard Matheson
Clairvius Narcisse
George A. Romero
John A. Russo
Tom Savini
Rob Zombie
I hope you find these resources informative and inspiring for your adventures, storytelling, or game design.
Stay Creative!
T.R. Knight
( If you would like to save this list of resources as a convenient PDF for later reference, you can find that HERE )
WHO IS T.R. KNIGHT?
He is a freelance editor, proofreader, and writer in the game industry. He is also a Husband and Caregiver to his wife Angie, Father of Twins Emily and Rachel, Gardner and Hobby Chef, and Director of Academic Technology and User Services at Taylor University. You can learn more about T.R. at his blog http://www.thomasrknight.com.