I received a review copy of this book from Trapped Chest. I received no other compensation for this review. 

Reanimated is climbing my list of games I want to get to the table.  I’m sure I mentioned it in some previous reviews for the product line, and I know I mentioned it in my unboxing video of The Curse of Nefer Ka Tet.  I used to be quite the zombie fan, but the glut of not very good zombie films of the 2000s-early 2010s soured me on the subgenre.  Reading through the Reanimated basic book, the Join Their Ranks supplement, and the adventure Zombies of the Corn has sort of reawakened my interest in zombie gaming.  The Curse of Nefer Ka Tet struck the right note.  

The subtitle calls this a Pulp adventure, and it definitely has that vibe.  It seems heavily inspired by the 1999 film version of The Mummy.  It’s meant to be fast paced, and I can imagine running this in just a few hours.  I bet it would be a good game to run at conventions.  

The premise is pretty simple.  A mummy has resurrected, creating a bunch of rampant undead, and burst out of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it must be stopped.  It’s organized in scenes.  Begging at a club, the PCs are present when the zombies attack.  They make their way to the museum to find out what’s happening.  They get mixed up with some mob goons, leading to a Hell’s Kitchen apartment.  Clues will then take them to a rich man’s townhouse, and finally to a showdown with the villainous mummy.  

Is it somewhat on rails?  Yes.  This is not a sandbox, meant to foster emergent play.  That said, within the framework of the scenes, players will have a lot of opportunity to sew their own brand of chaos, making their own decisions on how to progress.  The scenario may not provide a way for the PCs to flee Manhattan or whatever.  But how they approach the mob goons, what they do at the rich man’s house, etc. is up to them, and will wildly change how the scenario plays out.  

If you’re very good at improv and have experience running games, I imagine you could maybe run this as is.  That ain’t me.  If I were going to bring this to the table, I’d flesh out the NPCs, add several, possibly add elements to the scenes and locations, and maybe mix up the villain and his motivations/goals a bit.  

Reanimated is a nice little rules-lite zombie survival game.  The Curse of Nefer Ka Tet looks like a fun night of zombie fighting hijinks.  As I’m in the midst of the longest GMing dry spell I’ve had since getting back into the hobby in 2019, I’m not sure when I’m going to get a chance to bring it to the table.  I think it would be a fun one to run for a Halloween gathering, at a local game store, or at a convention.  

Check out Trapped Chest here.

Check out my unboxing video here.

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