That thing I do with Nerf Blasters.

As one would easily surmise, there is more to my life than Anime Cons and live action questing. When I sheath the swords and peel off the armor, gamberson, belts, and medieval garments, I don the red camo pants and gear up for the next game. A game where I find myself prowling dark alley ways in search of dossiers, while maintaining a healthy level of paranoia by keeping my hand on the trigger, and my head on a swivel. A game where I kneel down beside thirty others in a firing line, while 80 people run at us screaming "Brains!" A game where I do my best to keep myself and those around me alive. And WHEN I die, I then shed the nerf blaster, tie my bandana on my head, and become the one jumping out of bushes at people. And I've been doing it for almost as long as I have been going to anime cons. Basically 10 years now.

The game I drop into is a little game called Humans vs Zombies. Basically this:

Think of Humans vs Zombies as a game of tag. You start off with the majority of players as Humans, who are identified by tying a bandana around their arm. Humans will defend themselves with nerf blasters, socks, and on some campuses, Marshmellows, while trying to complete mission objectives, or in freeplay, just trying to make it from one class to another alive. And when that human gets tagged by a Zombie, they become a Zombie for the rest of the game. Zombies don't use nerf blasters. Their job is to sneak up, run up, or horde up and charge the humans in an attempt to get a tag. When shot, they go inactive, until respawn. For some games, these are rolling respawns, meaning zombies respawn on the dot every 15-30 minutes. For others, this is a personal timer, meaning the zombie keeps track of their own spawn time based on when they were shot, and how many seconds or minutes it has been. Then they respawn, and do it all again. There are of course special zombies, like the tank (Gets stunned for 3 seconds when shot, but can't really be killed), the witch (An obstacle that humans need to quietly navigate around, or pull from a distance in order to get past), the boomer (Becomes an automatic respawn point when shot) are the most commonly used specials, though there are others that are regional specific to their games. Like the Wraith in OU Athens, Ohio, or the thousands of other specials they have in YSU. Add to that, normal zombies could be awarded with shields or noodles to deflect darts and extend their tag reach.

Me at Endwar 2017. Tempest's last game.

While I have never been a student or a local of Ohio University's Games, I've played on their campus enough that I am considered a local by the locals. I am a current member of Red-Team, an old Athens strike team that still survives to this day, and a former member of the late Tempest. Alas, the pirates set their final sails for Endwar in 2017, and have sense disbanded. Which lead to me running out of excuses to accept Red-Team's recruitment offerings. But I've been documenting Tempest's story for a long time now, in effort to preserve many of the legends of Athens HVZ history. And I will be eventually posting many of those stories here in the future, but with expanded details, new omitted stories, and extra goodies. But I digress.

If you want to learn how to get into Humans vs Zombies, a good place to start is the Global HVZ Invite Page on Facebook run by my good friend, Scotty Soloman, who advertises games that could be happening near you. From there, what you will need is a bandana that contrasts with your hair or outfit (Be sure to check the rules of the campus, as some prefer you to have a specific color), a nerf blaster of some kind, and/or rolled up sock balls.

And don't be intimidated if people appear to take the game way too seriously. Whether you're a casual, a try-hard, or something between, most HVZ communities do a damn good job at accepting players of all sorts. Male or female (Or non-binary), Athletic or out of shape and physically broken, living or dead. And trust me, everyone is way more chill when they die. (Although some need to pass through the 5 stages of grief first.) Then its puppies and kittens, and relentlessly hunting, chasing, or slowly lumbering towards humans and whittling away at their numbers until final stand. The game balance shifts through out the game length, with humans holding literally every advantage at first, then after midweek (Or mid day in invites), the zombies usually find themselves with numerical superiority, forcing humans to bring out the heavier weapons, higher ammo capacity, play smarter and harder to keep their fellow brethren alive. There's a real sense of camaraderie that starts to form amongst the humans after that first wake up call, when shit hits the fan and casualties start to rise. And even if you are just a casual "Lol, I'm just checking this out, I'll probs die in the first mission!", type, you start to feel invested in your self preservation as well as those around you at that point. You start to learn that the stress you've been starting to feel is something of its own reward, for it's the glue that tethers the survivors together, and gives them that positive camaraderie, which they use to reinforce themselves and their companions when things look bleak. (Then suddenly you start showing up to games in a trench coat or full tac gear.) The starters zombies however, have their work cut out for them. And its something of a wholesome experience being a zombie or getting turned early, and watching your horde grow. There isn't nearly as much stress, and many find they revel in it. Being a zombie is the most fun when you are out having fun with it. Doing all the things you wouldn't dare risk doing as humans. Like holding a picnic, or flying a kite. Holding up a news paper with two eye holes cut in it and the words "I am a Zombie" painted on the front, then still managing to be ignored by humans as you casually get up from the bench, walk up behind them for a good while, and get two or three of them.

This game has earned me some of my strongest friendships, and best memories over the years. Yet sadly, it's a game that appears to be waning in popularity. Anyways, I may be putting up a new section on the main page dedicated to HVZ, so consider this a taste of what's to come.