The Walking Dead Universe RPG Core Rules

Fight the dead, fear the living – tell your story in the apocalypse

The official Core Rules for The Walking Dead Universe Roleplaying Game thrust your group into brutal survival drama, built on Free League’s acclaimed Year Zero Engine. Expect high stakes, scarce resources, tense choices, and encounters with walkers and the worst of the living. Play anywhere on the timeline, meeting familiar places and faces or forging new ones of your own. 

What’s inside

- Complete, streamlined rules powered by the Year Zero Engine, tailored for relentless survival play. 
- Three ways to play: open-ended Campaign Mode, high-pressure Survival Mode, and Solo Mode for GM-free runs. 
- Character creation with archetypes (Criminal, Doctor, Kid, Law Enforcer, Scientist, Soldier, and more), Issues/Drives/Relationships, scarcity-driven gear, stress, and lethal injury rules. 
- Haven/base rules to build, defend, and improve your group’s shelter, plus tools for runs, threats, and travel logs. 

Why you’ll love it

- Captures the show’s tone: moral dilemmas, group conflict, and survival at any cost. 
- Fast, tense d6 dice-pool mechanics that reward risk but escalate danger. 
- Flexible structure for one-shots, short “seasons,” or long campaigns—with solo support when your crew can’t meet.