Hang on a second - what’s the difference between Zombie and Cult?

Some explanation is needed here.  Zombie is the name of the system and our original game; both the one we devised running around Halls of Residence with NERF guns and the first event held in February of 2007.  Cult is an evolution of the Zombie game and the name of the event that we're running in April.

Cult

So, a short piece on how Cult differs from Zombie.

Zombie was about ordinary people surviving against the odds.  Set in the Bioflex Corporation Norwich Facility, every scenario began as rag-tag  group of people tried their damnedest not to get eaten by the howling undead.  There was no plot, short of that which the GMs used to string scenarios together.  There was running, shooting, clubbing and screaming.  It was awesome fun.  Cult is where things get a little more complicated.

Cult is set in the same universe as Zombie - hell, it's even set in the same place.  Roughly a year after the Second Incident (October's game) the Bioflex Corporation has gone into decline and is making cutbacks; closing facilities, making entire research teams redundant and ending investigations into new biological techniques.  The Norwich facility has been officially shut down following the "viral outbreak" of the previous year, the facility decontaminated and abandoned and the surrounding area permanently scarred from the fallout and brutal military cleanup teams.  The area around the once-glorious facility has become a black hole of abandoned buildings and wreckage, Government rehabilition teams perpetually "waiting for analysis" on the situation.  The facility itself is a shattered husk, empty of all signs of life, and all who approach it are filled with unease and discomfort.

The reason for all this?  Emmerson and Kramer are trying to Ascend.  Emmerson, in his quest to create pure life from nothing (and thus revivify his deceased daughter*) coupled with Kramer's manic lust for power over everything, even Heaven and Hell, have brought them to their next aim - to walk amongst the Gods and start cracking some heads.  In the meantime they make do with commanding scattered armies of militia and hard-core occult researchers.  It has been rumoured that they have made pacts or coerced the agents of divinity and prophanity themselves and have captured demons and angels, forcing them to do their bidding.  The Bioflex facility has become the centre for the Western European arm of their emerging Cult, a collection of fanatics and madmen (many of them former Bioflex employees) that want to bring themselves closer to the Divine through assisting in Their Holy Work.

Kramer has jammed most of the Bioflex power into cracking open the doors of heaven, funding research and missions into claiming lost religious artefacts.  A small percentage of Bioflex capital is put towards silencing people who might make a fuss, mainly through assassination and terror tactics.  But there is an underground Government organisation that is attempting to fight back against the machinations of the evil pair - the Occult Investigation Bureau (OIB).  Issuing teams of cerebral Investigators and crack military Task Forces against the Cult, they are working to bring them down and cripple Emmerson and Kramer as best they can.  As the malign influence spreading out of the facility grows, the OIB have to act quickly to neutralise the threat.

And that's where you come in.  Players will either be playing Investigators, sent in to investigate crimes and infiltrate Cult activities, or as part of a Task Force armed to the teeth and ready to kick ass.  Rather than Zombies being the main threat this time around, the base is filled with masked and cloaked cultists fanatically loyal to Emerson and Kramer; so different tactics will be required.  As investigative characters you'll be talking your way out of problems, sneaking past guards to collect information on sensitive materials, sneaking into cult ceremonies and generally picking your fights as well as gaining intel and moderate problem-solving.  If you choose to play a Task Force member, you'll be packing heat and looking to cause trouble - running gunfights with large groups of cultists, tactical manuvering, cutting off retreat routes and generally kicking ass and taking names.  Players and Cultists take control of magic, too in the form of Divine and Occult forces.  While Investigators gain a small measure of this power - enough to resolve difficult situations without resorting to gunfights - Task Forces have access to far greater levels of power; sending a room full of people blind, reducing enemies to cowering wrecks or knitting your team's wounds closed in the middle of a tense gunfight.

*last night I saw her face in mirrors